The mixed-gender Mexican team took home the country’s first Olympic medal in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
L. Alvarez Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
On the opening day of competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Mexico’s mixed team archery squad earned bronze, marking the country’s first Olympic medal in any sport.
With a 6-2 victory over Turkey’s Mete Gazoz and Yasemin Anagoz, Alejandra Valencia and Luis Alvarez earned Mexico’s first team archery podium finish and its first Olympic podium finish since 2012, when Aida Roman won silver in the women’s individual event in London.
Fourth-seeded Mexico took an early 2-0 lead after shooting four consecutive nines, but they were threatened by Turkey’s comeback after Alvarez shot a two with his first arrow of the second set.
Due to a nearly flawless third set, Mexico was able to recover the lead and win the match with a score of 39. Neither team was particularly effective with the ball in the fourth, but Mexico managed to hold on for the victory.
“What Valencia meant by this was happiness. “It’s almost like a prize for all the hard work we put into this, for everything we went through to get here,” they said.
Mexico started the day with resounding victories against Germany and Great Britain before facing up against eventual champion Korea in the semis. While An San and Kim Je Deok easily defeated Valencia and Alvarez, 5-1, the Mexicans recovered in time to finish third against Turkey.
Although they were unable to advance past the semifinals, Valencia and his team nevertheless thought they had performed admirably.
Then, in the bronze-medal game, we moved past the terrible strokes and concentrated on the good ones.”
Gazoz and Anagoz, two Young Turks who were Expected to Start for their team, were Visibly Upset After the Game.
After qualifying, the couple found themselves in the seventh seed position, although they never managed to win a set with more than 36 points.
While Turkey was able to get back into the game because to Mexico’s low scoring output (34) in the fourth, the young tandem was unable to capitalise. Shooting in the Olympics for the second time, Anagoz finished with a perfect five.
Honestly, I’m in a terrible mood. What happened was a major letdown,” Anagaoz stated. “My final shot, I’ve been in hell. Truthfully, I can make that claim.
