Mexican Divers Conclude Paris Olympics with Mixed Results

Divers Gabriela Agúndez and Alejandra Orozco concluded their participation with fifth and eighth place in the individual platform event, after adding 350.40 and 320.60 points, respectively, in a competition held at the Paris Aquatic Center and with which they say goodbye to the Olympic Games.

Agúndez, who obtained fourth place in Tokyo 2020, once again came close to a place on the podium during Tuesday's competition, particularly after the second round of the final, in which she had the best-rated jump, after executing the three and a halfback flips in position C with scores of 8.0; however, in the rest of the diving rounds, she failed to place among the medalists.

“I would have liked to finish with a medal, but this fifth place is worth a lot to me, I am happy, I enjoyed the final and what better than to do it at the Olympic Games,” said Agúndez García, who along with Orozco also finished in fifth place in the 10-meter synchronized diving event.

“I am leaving with a bittersweet taste because I know that Mexico is present in diving, we are in the fight, we gave everything, and it is only a matter of details,” explained the champion of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, who said that she still has a dream to fulfill considering the next summer competition.

“Today there was a entirely different Gaby than the one we saw yesterday in the preliminary and semifinal, I felt more like myself, I enjoyed the competition and each dive and that speaks of the change that each one can have from one moment to another. I decided to enjoy the competition, and I am left with this learning, so I am leaving these Games happy,” she assured.

For her part, Alejandra Orozco, double Olympic medalist and flag bearer of the Mexican delegation in Paris 2024, closed her cycle as an active diver after confirming her retirement from the sport after four summer events and obtaining two medals in synchronized diving (silver in London 2012 and bronze in Tokyo 2020).

Alejandra Orozco ends her history as a diver after Paris 2024

After 20 years in high performance, Alejandra Orozco Loza ended her career as a diver after the end of her participation that she experienced this Tuesday in Paris 2024.

The Jalisco native, flag bearer of the national delegation for this edition, finished with an eighth individual place in the women's 10-meter platform with a cumulative score of 320.60 points after completing the five rounds at the Aquatic Center of the French capital.

“It was a day of many emotions, from the moment I got up I knew it was an Olympic final, a competition that I wanted to live, feel, enjoy, give myself the opportunity to feel every step, every dive and moment to make it part of my story,” said the two-time Olympic medalist.

“I was very excited, I was even shaking knowing that it was the end of many things, of many years, of a process that was also difficult to be here in Paris and everything that it entailed, it was the last dive of the end of a cycle of resilience, of learning, of a lot of character and not throwing in the towel, that was my thought, I had so much adrenaline, I feel calm, and we are making and living our dream,” she said.

Alejandra Orozco, Pan American runner-up in Santiago 2023, concludes this story with four Olympic Games under her belt, a path that began in the summer competition when she was a teenager with her silver medal in synchronized swimming in London 2012 at the age of 15.

“I think that unlike four cycles ago in London 2012, when I was a child, I didn't realize where I was standing, and today it was the opposite. I knew perfectly well what I was going to experience, what I was going to feel, what could happen and how my family, the stands, the support was going to be. I felt every support, every applause and correction, every drop of support, I was very involved and feeling every moment that passed in the competition,” she shared.

After Rio 2016, the diver won the bronze medal with Gabriela Agúndez in Tokyo 2020 and for Paris 2024 she puts an end to it with a fifth place in synchronized and an eighth place individually.

“This time I am not taking the fruit in my hands, but I am not taking them empty-handed. I am taking many things and a lot of love, learning, people, and I will always take that with me wherever I want to go, pushing myself with the lessons that the pool left me,” said the double medalist at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing 2014.

“It was a roller coaster all the time, I felt that way since I started my career, I always had a backpack with plenty of expectations, with pressure and hope, but also self-sabotage, with doubts; that was my career, but I was also able to use all that to my advantage, I wouldn’t change anything, each victory or defeat gave me the drive to continue,” she concluded.