Daniela Gaxiola, Yuli Verdugo and Jessica Salazar gave Mexico the gold medal in the third and final stage of the World Track Cycling Championships, held in Canada, from April 20 to 23, however, CONADE did not celebrate the triumph of the Mexican women who aspire to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to the conflict with the International Cycling Federation (UCI).
At the same time that the Mexican government dreams of presenting the candidacy for the 2023 Olympic Games6, The National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE), chaired by Ana Gabriela Guevara, has a couple of conflicts with international federations that represent an extra obstacle for Mexican athletes in aquatic sports (among them diving and cycling, disciplines in which Mexico could compete for medals.
He June 16, 2022, Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, participated in an event at the Mexican Olympic Committee in which he assured that he would raise with the country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the option of applying for Mexico as the venue for the Olympic Games of 2036.
At that event, the chancellor signed an agreement with the Mexican Olympic Committee for the benefit of Mexican athletes. Ebrard said the following sentence. “The goal is to support our athletes; be present, make their lives easier and promote the presence of sports in Mexico in all possible spaces, in all the sports competitions that we can, in all the events that are important for the sport”.
Far from “make life easier” Mexican divers and cyclists have encountered extra complications through the CONADE, a public body attached to the Ministry of Public Education, led by Leticia Ramírez Amaya, a member of Obrador’s cabinet.
CONADE abandons Mexican athletes
Daniela Gaxiola, Yuli Verdugo and Jessica Salazar, The Mexicans who won the Canadian gold, arrived in Canada with their own resources, after CONADE’s conflict with the International Cycling Federation, as they also did in Egypt, for the second stage of the World Championship, and after their performances, they won the ticket to participate in a tournament in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
In accordance with The country, The cyclists obtained economic support through the governments of their states: Sinaloa, Baja California Sur and Jalisco, when One of the functions and objectives of CONADE is to support the administration of resources for amateur and professional athletes..
Why did CONADE abandon cyclists from Mexico?
The whole conflict has to do with “data ride”, which is how the electronic system for licensing cyclists to compete abroad is known. The ‘data ride’ was controlled by CONADE until February 14, 2023, date on which the International Cycling Federation) passed it on to the Mexican Olympic Committee.
The administration of Ana Gabriela Guevara threatened to withdraw support from the cyclists if the UCI did not return it to her within a period of 48 hours. By then Daniela Gaxiola, Yuli Verdugo and Jessica Salazar were already registered, with Tomás Aguirrefor the first stage of the World Championship, in Indonesia.
Now the “data ride” is in the hands of the Mexican Olympic Committee, chaired by the excavator María José Alcalá, who in her candidacy assured that she would work hand in hand with Guevara’s CONADE. The reality, however, is that the two institutions maintain their differences.
The conflict between CONADE and the UCI
Why doesn’t CONADE support the cyclists in Mexico? Here we present a chronology of the events that leave hints of a conflict of interest that began with the intervention towards the Mexican Cycling Federation, which is the body that in theory should control the “data ride”.
- In September 2021, the UCI intervenes and withdraws the Mexican Cycling Federation, chaired by Edgardo Hernández, due to irregularities and withdraws the “data ride”, which remains in the possession of CONADE. In turn, the UCI suspends the Mexican Cycling Federation.
- On May 7, 2022 the Mexican Cycling Federation holds an Assembly, controlled and supervised by CONADE at the request of the UCI. is chosen to Luis Gerardo Langarica Vázquez as the new president.
- A representative of the UCI was present at the assembly, who reported irregularities, such as the fact of preventing four candidates from competing, among them the ex-cyclist Raúl Alcalá, for which reason the UCI canceled the assembly and maintained the suspension of the Mexican federation. Meanwhile, CONADE does recognize Langarica as the “legitimate president.”
- On February 14, 2023, the UCI withdrew the “data ride” from CONADE and granted it to the Mexican Olympic Committee (COM), which unlike CONADE, does not depend on the public sector, since it is a Civil Association, so that this body can validate the registrations of Mexican cyclists in international competitions.
The COM, however, does not administer nor is it responsible for granting financial support to athletes, and in this situation The cyclists of Mexico will have to reach the Central American, Pan American and Olympic Games, with their own resources until new notice.
This case is added to the reduction of resources to athletes since the arrival of Ana Guevara, the reduction of the budget for sports during the López Obrador administration, the conflict with World Aquatics, and the CONADE lawsuit against Paola Longoria And this is how you want to compete for the candidacy for the 2036 Olympic Games?
