Mexico once again wrote its name in gold letters this weekend thanks to the historic medal won by a group of eight athletes during the Artistic Swimming World Cup which is celebrated in Egypt. But the brightness of this achievement goes beyond the photo on the podium, as it represents a merit to resilience and determination.
Obtaining the gold medal in this competition seemed far away for a delegation that in recent months has faced deep adversities: the lack of government financial support from the body responsible for athletes, the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (conade), coupled with the disorganization that prevails in the Mexican Swimming Federation (FMN).
These problems and other underlying ones caused artistic swimming athletes to find it necessary to sell swimsuits on social networks in order to raise funds and travel to Egypt, news that even had an international impact.
Already in the event, held at the Senzo Sporting Club Olympic Complex in the city of Somabay, Egypt, Mexico took gold in the mixed technique test after reaching a score of 270.1584. Italy was left with the silver, because although it received the same score in difficulty, it could not surpass the scores for execution and artistic impression and was left with 268.8417 points.
The podium was rounded out by France, who entered the event with the highest declared difficulty, 30.8, but could not execute the routine of “nearly perfect.”Trip to space” and finished in third place for the bronze medal with 253.5312 points.
The winners for Mexico were the athletes Regina Alferez, María Fernanda Arellano, Daniela Estrada, Itzamary González, Glenda Inzunza, Luisa Rodríguez, Jessica Sobrino and Pamela Nuzhet, who decided to impact the judges, spectators and the entire world through an inspired routine at Freddie Mercury to the rhythm of ‘Don’t stop me now’, by Queen.
Despite not having government financial support, the swimmers managed to cover their expenses thanks to the collaboration of the Safetti México brand, which was the one that provided them with the swimsuits that they put up for sale on social networks. On the website of said brand, the purpose of each transaction was specified: “All profits from the sale of this suit will be used for the expenses of the National Artistic Swimming Team.”
Nuria Diosdado, a Mexican figure in this discipline at the Tokyo Olympics (together with her partner Joana Jiménez), was the main manager of the sale of costumes in the online market, and even days before the World Cup in Egypt , indicated in their social network profiles that if any other brand was interested in supporting the delegation, they should contact through it.
In addition, since mid-April the artistic swimming delegation was received by the businessman Arturo Elías Ayub, director of Fundación Telmex, since both he and his father-in-law, the Mexican magnate Carlos Slim Helú, offered them sponsorships and financial support in view of their unfavorable situation vis-à-vis Conade and the FMN.
According to a publication by Nuria Diosdado on social networks, it was declared that the delegation could make the trip to the World Cup in Egypt thanks to the support of this pair of businessmen, as well as brands such as Safetti, Adidas, Arena, Oysho, Quore, Dry Up, among others, making possible the participation that ended with a historic medal.
During their participation in the final, the athletes wore a lemon green suit, but previously, when they made the trip to the venue, they did not use any accessory that alluded to the Mexican flag, but instead dressed in black.
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