It took 28 years for the national artistic swimming team to return to the Olympic stages in the team modality, after performing in the technical routine at Paris 2024. Mexico achieved a score of 243.4491 points to temporarily place eighth overall.
The group, made up of Regina Alférez, Fernanda Arellano, Nuria Diosdado, Itzamary González, Joana Jiménez, Samantha Rodríguez, Jessica Sobrino and Pamela Toscano, led by coaches Adriana Loftus and Ofelia Pedrero, made their appearance at the Paris 2024 Aquatics Centre with the routine called “Queen”, in which they performed their elements to the rhythm of Don’t Stop Me Now, by the British rock group Queen.
Mexico performed in this first competition with a difficulty level of 39.550 and received a total of 151.5491 points in elements, 91.9000 points in artistic impression and a penalty of -0.50 from the judges, placing it 70.6047 points away from first place.
The leading team was China, who added 313.5538 points in their routine, followed by Spain with 287.1475 and Italy with 277.83.04 points.
The artistic swimming competitions, in which 10 countries participate, will continue on Tuesday with the team events in free routine and on Wednesday with team events in acrobatic routine. At the end of the three events, the countries that won gold, silver and bronze will be determined.
The Mexican team snatched gold from the United States at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games with an impeccable performance, an achievement that gave them Olympic qualification for Paris 2024.
The Aztec mermaids also collected two gold medals at the Paris 2024 Artistic Swimming World Cup last May, and the silver medal in technical routine at the Super Final of the 2024 Artistic Swimming World Cup in Budapest, Hungary, in early July.
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/PKF2CQOHYFAOTEE5VAAWTVGHDM.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Tremor today, August 6 in Mexico: a 3.4 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Baja California")