On July 4, the Mexico Olympic Committee (Comité Olímpico Mexicano) unveiled the names of the athletes who will represent the country in the artistic swimming competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Team veteran Nuria Diosdado will make her fourth Olympic appearance, but first one with the full team besides her. Joana Jiménez also returns to the Games, after competing in duet in Tokyo alongside Diosdado.
The athletes selected to represent Mexico this summer are as follows:
- Regina Alférez (26)
- María Fernanda Arellano (22)
- Nuria Diosdado (33)
- Itzamary González (20)
- Joana Jiménez (30)
- Luisa Rodríguez (29)
- Jessica Sobrino (30)
- Pamela Toscano (24)
- Reserve: Glenda Inzunza (24)
With an average age of 26.75, this Mexican Olympic squad is a tremendous example of longevity in the sport, and is undoubtedly the most experienced of the 10 teams that will compete in Paris in a few weeks. Five of the eight artistic swimmers named to this team have been competing internationally for over a decade, and have appeared in at least five World Championships and two Pan American Games.
Nuria Diosdado is undoubtedly the backbone of this team, competing on the senior stage since 2006. Diosdado, who at 33 years old will be the oldest artistic swimmer in Paris, has competed in three Olympics already in the duet event in 2012, 2016 and 2020. After this summer, Diosdado will join the relatively short list of four-time Olympians in artistic swimming, which for now includes only seven athletes.
Throughout her career, Diosdado has competed in nine World Championships starting in 2007, as well as five Pan American Games. In the latter, she is a two-time gold and four-time silver medalist in duet and team. She has been part of the duet since 2010 and will compete once more in Paris in this event alongside Joana Jiménez.
A Tokyo Olympian in duet, Joana Jiménez has been on the senior national team since 2011. She has competed in every World Championships (eight in total), Pan American Games (four) and Central and Caribbean Games (three) ever since.
Jiménez, who will turn 31 a few days after the end of the Paris Games, is also a two-time gold and three-time silver medalist at the Pan American Games. She has won 10 gold medals at the Central and Caribbean Games throughout her career as well.
She officially joined Diosdado in the duet ahead of the 2019 season, after serving as a reserve to the previous pair, notably in the lead-up to the Rio Games in 2016. In Tokyo, Diosdado and Jiménez placed 12th, and will surely aim to at least repeat their feat.
Luisa Rodríguez and Jessica Sobrino are two other veterans of this Mexican Olympic team and have been part of the senior team for the last 11 years, bringing consistency and reliability. The two have had quite a similar path through the years, moving up to the senior ranks in 2013 after competing at the 2012 World Junior Championships.
Both went on to compete in seven World Championships between 2013 and 2024, as well as in three Pan American Games in 2015, 2019 and 2023, winning a gold and two-silver medals along the way in the team events. They are also seven-time gold medalists at the Central and Caribbean Games across three editions.
Sobrino is also one of the three featured swimmers of this team, mostly specialized in the high-flying, airborne acrobatics. She has certainly heavily contributed to Mexico’s uniqueness and innovation in this area over her time on the national team.
After appearing at the 2014 World Junior Championships, 26-year-old Regina Alférez joined the senior team for the 2015 season. Much like her teammates, she has been a constant presence on the team ever since, competing in five World Championships, two Pan American Games – winning a gold in 2023 and a silver in 2019 –, and two Central and Caribbean Games.
Pamela Toscano joined the senior ranks ahead of the 2019 season, and served as a reserve to the team routines that year, including at the Gwangju World Championships. From 2022 on, she has been a key member of the squad, competing at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships across all team routines.
A gold medalist at the 2023 Pan American Games, she is another athlete contributing to the team acrobatics, and is most often featured on the balance and stack movements.
Fernanda Arellano and Itzamary González are the youngest of this Olympic squad and, naturally, only made their first appearances with the senior national team in 2022.
Arellano and González previously had outstanding junior careers, notably putting the world on notice by winning three gold medals each at the Junior Pan American Games in 2021. Both then competed in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships, and helped the team clinch gold and an Olympic team quota at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Born in 2003, González turned 18 when she moved up to the senior team. For reference, she was only three when Nuria Diosdado made her first international appearance on the senior stage, and they now get to swim together – a further testament to Diosdado’s incredible elite career for the last 18 years.
In 2023, González also competed extensively in the mixed duet, appearing in the Central and Caribbean Games, a few World Cup legs and the World Championships in this event. In the latter, she notably won a historical silver in the free mixed duet, at the time Mexico’s first-ever artistic swimming medal at a World Championships. She has been solely focusing on the team routines ever since, and is also one of the team’s featured swimmers, often appearing on top of the platforms.
These eight athletes have been incredibly successful throughout the World Cup circuit this year, securing two gold medals in Paris in technical team and acrobatic team. This past weekend, they earned two silver medals at the Super Final in Budapest in the technical team and free team events.
While the Olympic Committee did not specify who the reserve was, a few national news articles reported that Glenda Inzunza was the traveling alternate.
Much like Toscano, Inzunza joined the senior team ahead of the 2019 season and served as a reserve to the team routines that same year. She then went on to swim at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships, and is a three-time medalist at the 2023 Central and Caribbean Games. So far this season, she has contributed solely to the acrobatic team routine at the Doha World Championships and the Paris World Cup.
While Mexico has always appeared to every Olympic Games one way or another across various events since 1984, this will only be their second time in the team event. Last time out in 1996, the country had finished eighth.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Stephane Kempinaire / FFN
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