新澳门开奖结果

By Celso FLORES – Wikimedia

Top 5 Most Famous Mexican Athletes

Football is the most popular sport in Mexico as it is in many other countries in Latin America and the world.

The second popular sport that is loved by Mexicans is boxing.

Other sports that one may associate with Mexico are basketball, baseball, rugby union, tennis, golf, taekwondo, track and field and racquetball.

Baseball is more popular in the northwest and southeast parts of the country.

Mexico has a national sport called Charreria consisting of a series of events such as rodeo and bullfighting.

The Mexican national team has appeared in all FIFA World cup tournaments since it began in 1930. The country also hosted the world cup in 1970 and 1986.

Here is our pick of the top 5 most famous Mexican athletes.

1. Maribel Dom铆nguez

By Hmlarson – Wikimedia

The first famous athlete is Maribel Dom铆nguez who played as a forward in football.

She grew up in a humble home and would always find herself drawn to the football games played in her neighbourhood.

She started playing football in her local teams and mostly played with men since there was no women鈥檚 team.

She moved to the United States in 2002 and played for the Kansas City Mystics, she scored 18 goals for the team. She then moved to Atlanta Beat in 2003 to 2005 made 18 appearances and 7 goals. She was the leading scorer in that league.

She has played international professional football for the United States, Spain, and Mexico.

In 2004, Maribel made international headlines when she got signed by a male Mexican football club and approved by the Mexican football federation but was denied by FIFA because males and females鈥� football is different.

She got nicknamed 鈥楳arigol鈥� because of her record of 46 goals scored in 49 appearances.

After she got signed by futbol club Barcelona Femeni in 2005, Maribel made her debut at the game with a hat-trick against Torrejon, her team won with 5 to 3.

She is now retired.

2. Esteban Guti茅rrez

By Morio – Wikimedia

Esteban Gutierrez was the second Mexican driver to compete in F1 races after participating in the Escuderia Telmex competition organized by the telecommunications company to promote local driving talent.

He replaced Sergio Perez at Sauber during the 2013 season after Perez joined McLaren.

Esteban was able to have an amazing achievement by winning two formula one鈥檚 supporting championships in their initial years. He won the Formula BMW Europe and GP3 in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

His passion for race cars started when he asked his father to buy him a kart after he saw and loved his cousins鈥�.

He then started racing at the age of 13 and became very successful in the Mexican Rota Max series. Soon after he shifted to racing cars.

When he turned 16, Esteban became second in the American Formula BMW championship in 2007. He had four wins but came after a more experienced driver Daniel Morad.

In 2008, he went to Europe and had six successive wins in the F1 under the Formula BMW championship and won the title that year.

This win drew the attention of the powerhouse Formula Three ART, they signed him in the Euro series the year that followed.

He came in 9^th, six places behind a fellow beginner and teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Until early 2020, Esteban was still signed with Mercedes team but his future in the team was uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic that leads to cancellation of most scheduled sports in 2020

3. Javier Hern谩ndez- 鈥淐hicharito鈥�

By Steindy -Wikimedia

If you happen to be a football fan then the name Javier Hernandez must be a familiar name.

If not then let me introduce him to you. He is a Mexican professional football player. He plays as an attacker.

He made his debut as a professional footballer in 2006 when he played for club Guadalajara in Mexico playing as a full-back.

He comes from a family of famous football players. His grandfather played for the Mexican national team in the 1954 FIFA World up and scored against France.

His father, Javier Hernandez Jnr, also represented Mexico in the World cup that was played in Mexico in 1986.

Javier, just like his grandfather, scored against the French team in the 2010 world cup in South Africa. His goal was the 50^th in Mexico鈥檚 world cup games.

He currently plays for the L.A Galaxy on jersey number 14 as well as the Mexican national team as an attacker.

He goes by his nickname, Chicharito meaning the green pea that resembles the colour of his eyes, which he wears on his shirt.

While playing for Manchester United, Chicharito was the first Mexican player to appear in the UEFA Championship finals. His goal was among the four that were scored although they did not win.

4. Saul Mendoza

Photo by Ariel Pilotto on Unsplash

Saul Mendoza is a former wheelchair athlete who competed at the Olympic and Paralympic levels representing Mexico.

When he was 6 months old, Saul caught polio but this did not stop him from being active in sports.

Saul participated in the 2000 Paralympics game and emerged the first in the demonstration event of Men’s 1500m wheelchair. He held the same position in the 2004 summer Olympics.

By 2008, Saul had won a total of six medals in different Paralympic events. He had 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 3 bronze medals.

He was also the flagbearer for the Mexican team in Sydney and Beijing Olympics respectively.

He had a controversial win in the 2004 Olympic games. Saul allegedly used a shortcut by following a police motorbike. This shortened his track by 200 meters and was luckily not disqualified.

His final appearance on the track was in 2008 Paralympic Games. It was also his sixth appearance in the game. He made one last appearance in the 2012 Olympics before finally retiring. He now works as a motivational speaker.

5. Lorena Ochoa

By Keith Allison – Wikimedia

The final famous athlete on our list is Lorena Ochoa. She is a former Mexican professional golfer who played on the U.S based LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010.

In 2001, Lorena was the first and youngest golfer to receive coveted Mexico鈥檚 Sports Award. It was quite an honour to receive the award from the then Mexican President, Vicente Fox.

She ranked as the top female golfer in the world for a record of 158 weeks. This was from 2007 until 2010 when she retired at the age of 28.

Lorena was also the first Mexican golfer to be number one in the world, in both the male and female category.

This has granted her the title of the best Mexican golfer and the best Latin American female golfer of all time.

She got to have her name in the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.

Lorena has received several prestigious awards in her career as a golfer.