“Mexico: A gold medal for excuses,” ran one headline this week as the nation’s athletes failed to pick up a single medal in the first week of the Rio Olympics.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the failure of the soccer team to advance past the first round. The final group game 0-1 loss to South Korea meant the gold medalists from London 2012 would return home empty handed.
Mexico’s divers, who were highly fancied for medals, also had a bad week. Ivan Garcia and German Sanchez, Jalisco’s silver medal winning covers from the 2012 London Olympics, could not repeat their success in Rio, finishing fifth in the 10-meter synchronized platform diving event Monday. Neither could the 2102 silver medal winners, Paola Espinoza and Alejandra Orozco (also from Jalisco), who finished sixth in the women’s event on Tuesday.
And on Wednesday, Mexico became embroiled in a furious row with organizers when the Mexican pair in the three-meter springboard event, Jahir Ocampo and Rommel Pacheco, were halfway through jumping off the board when the lights were switched on in the diving arena.
Controversy followed when the pair climbed back up to the board and tried to repeat their dive, only to be told that the original dive had to stand.
In other Olympic news, disgraceful Internet trolls targeted Mexican gymnast Alexa Moreno, calling her “gorda” (fat) after she competed in the uneven bars, beam and vault and floor exercise routines.