Mexico managed to turn around what was looking to be a wretched Olympics Games on a superb final Saturday, winning three medals in a single day for the first time.

Within the space of two hours, María del Rosario Espinoza won a silver in taekwondo, to add to her gold in Beijing 2008 and bronze in London 2012; Jalisco’s Germán Sánchez also won a silver in the ten-meter platform diving event and Ismael Hernández picked up the bronze meal in the modern pentathlon.  

Despite the last-minute medal haul, Mexico finished in 61st place in the medal table with five gongs (no golds), compared with 32nd four years ago when the total was seven medals (one gold).

Despite some heavy criticism from the Mexican media for the athletes’ performance after the opening week, some stats suggest this country actually fared better than in London. In Rio de Janeiro, 31 of Mexico’s competitors finished inside the top 12 places in their events, compared to 25 four years ago.