Second consecutive Krakow win for Eder Sanchez (© Grzegorz Lipinski)
Forty years after winning its first Olympic medal in athletics, Mexico bets again on its race walkers to reach the podium at the Beijing Olympic Games, especially on 2008 World Cup bronze medallist Eder Sanchez.
The 22-year old from the state of Mexico leads the 25-member contingent, who will contest 12 of the 47 athletic events in the Chinese capital.
Fourth at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Sanchez keeps good memories of China, where he first broke the 1:20-hour barrier (1:19:02 in 2005) and was also third at the 2007 and 2008 Chinese leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge. The latter was staged over the Olympic course.
Sanchez does not see himself a favorite to win, but he believes he has all it takes to win a medal.
"I have trained hard and the target is to be among the top three, but the top favourites are Jefferson Pérez, Francisco Javier Fernández and Hatem Ghoula, the three medallists from the World championships in Osaka, as well as the Russians," he explained.
Sanchez won two of the legs of the 2008 IAAF Challenge in Mexico and Poland, as well as the third place in the Beijing rehearsal and the World Cup in Cheboksary, Russia, with a personal best of 1:18:34.
He bid farewell to his local fans on 20 July when posting comfortable win at the NACAC Under 23 Championships in Toluca, ahead of David Mejia, who will join him in Beijing.
"If I see myself as a medallist, I will relax and it won't help. My aim is to train hard and avoid the pressure of whether I am considered a favourite," he added.
He believes the men's 20km Race Walk, scheduled on 16 August, will be a strategic race. "The top players will not try to break away early. The winning time will be slow and I am ready for a strong finish."
Horacio Navas, sixth at the 2006 World Cup in 50km, is also seen as another Mexican hopeful for the top positions in the longest athletic discipline.
The women's field is led by Madai Perez, the fastest Latin American female marathoner ever, thanks to her 2:22:59-hour performance in Chicago 2006.
As usual, Mexico is mostly represented in the distance events, with six marathon runners, five male race walkers and others on the track, including Dulce Maria Rodriguez, who will compete in her third Olympics.
David Galvan, the 2007 Pan American 5000m champion and 2002 World Cup 3000m runner-up, will run both the 5000m and 10,000m.
Giovanni Lanaro, the 2006 World Indoor championships fourth place finisher, hopes to make it to the Pole Vault final in his second Olympics following his 5.80m best this season. He did not have a valid jump in Athens 2004 as he got injured in his first attempt.
Four years ago in Athens, Ana Guevara won the only athletic medal for Mexico when second in the 400m. The 2003 World champion retired in January 2008.
With three gold medals, all by race walkers Daniel Bautista (Montreal 1976), Ernesto Canto and Raúl González (Los Angeles 1984), athletics is the sport that has produced most Olympic champions for Mexico. It has also collected five silver and two bronze medals. Race walker Jose Pedraza, second in the 20km at the 1968 Mexico City, set out the victorious path for the country's race walkers.
With 10 medals each, diving and athletics have been the most successful sports for Mexico in Olympic history.
Javier Clavelo Robinson and Hugo Rosales
Here is the Mexican athletic team for Beijing
Women
400m Gabriela Elizabeth Medina
10,000m Dulce Maria Rodríguez
Marathon Madaí Pérez, Patricia Retiz and Karina Pérez
HJ Romary Rifka
4x400m Gabriela Elizabeth Medina, Zudikey Rodríguez, Nallely Vela, Ruth Grajeda, Maria Teresa Rugerio and Karla Guadalupe Dueñas
Men
5000m Juan Luis Barrios and José David Galván
10,000m José David Galván, Alejandro Suárez and Juan Carlos Romero
Marathon Procopio Franco, Carlos Cordero and Francisco Bautista
HJ Gerardo Eugenio Martínez
PV Giovanni Lanaro
20km Walk Eder Heraclio Sánchez and David Mejía
50km Walk Horacio Nava, Mario Iván Flores and Jesús Sánchez
