Category Archives: Olimpíadas

Anissa Urtez Named to Olympic Softball All-Tournament Team at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Anissa Urtez is an Olympic all-star…

The 26-year-old Mexican American softball player, representing Mexico at the 2020 Tokyo Games, has been named to the Olympic softball all-tournament team.

Anissa Urtez

Urtez was picked as the all-tournament shortstop.

During the fifth inning in Mexico’s game against Japan on Thursday, July 22, Urtez sent Japanese legend Yukiko Ueno’s pitch over the fence for a home run.

It was the first home run in the Olympic Games by a player from the Mexican National Team.

while her real-life fiancée Amanda Chidester of the United States was picked as the designated player.

Urtez’s Mexican teammate Suzy Brookshire was picked as the right fielder.

Yamato Fujita of Japan was named most valuable player of the tournament. She hit .389 with three homers and seven RBI in six games for Japan, which beat the U.S. 2-0 on Tuesday for its second straight title.

Four Americans were selected for the all-tournament team, with Chidester joined by left-hander Monica Abbott, second baseman Ali Aguilar and centerfielder Haylie McCleney.

The team also included right-hander Yukiko Ueno and third baseman Yu Yamamoto of Japan and catcher Kaleigh Rafter and first baseman Jenn Salling of Canada.

Also selected were Italian left fielder Laura Vigna and Japanese first baseman Minori Naito, who was picked as the best defensive player.

The team was picked by the World Baseball Softball Confederation and the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.

Marcos Moneta Helps Lead Argentina to Its First Medal at the Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Marcos Moneta will be returning home a hero…

The 21-year-old Argentine rugby sevens player helped lead his Argentina rugby seven team to the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games, after a shocking 17-12 win over Great Britain.

Marcos Moneta

Moneta, who was making his Olympic debut at this year’s Summer Olympics, helped give Argentina is first medal of the games.

Argentina earned the win after tries from Lautaro Bazan Velez, the Games’ overall top try scorer Moneta, and Ignacio Mendy.

It’s a monumental achievement for former sevens star-turned-coach Santiago Gomez Cora, who crashed out in the quarters in Brazil as a player.

It’s also the first ever Olympic medal for Argentina in rugby sevens.

Moneta scored six tries in his country’s successful Tokyo 2020 campaign including a sparkling effort against Great Britain in the bronze medal match to spark wild scenes amongst the jubilant Argentina delegation.

Moneta knows what this historic result will mean for the sport in his homeland.

“After football I think rugby is our top sport in Argentina, it’s a passionate sport, we have a professional rugby league, we have lots of children playing the game now.

“This bronze medal is for all the children who are playing the game in Argentina and all the fans who love rugby around the world.”

Argentina’s star man said it was team spirit which spurred the Pumas on to beat Great Britain to win bronze.

“I think the key to our victory was the team, our mentality, our spirit. The team was so united, we showed what we can achieve when we can play together.

“Our country is very passionate, we love rugby, football, tennis and many sports. It’s a pleasure to represent Argentina, when we put this jersey on we know we are representing our family, our friends, our clubs, our people and it’s the highest honor.

“Everyone got up at 5.30am to watch our medal match, I think our fans and our country will be euphoric and they won’t sleep for a while.”

Moneta also spoke about how difficult it was to prepare during the pandemic to play against the sport’s leading sevens nations.

“Preparation for the tournament was difficult, at times we could only train at our homes and we were doing sessions together on Zoom and Skype.

“Luckily we could play some tournaments before the Games like the Madrid sevens. Our minds were focused on the Olympics, that was our main objective to get onto the podium.”

Julio Mayora Gives Venezuela its First Medal of the 2020 Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo GamesJulio Mayora is the silver bullet…

The 24-year-old Venezuelan weightlifter has put his country on the medal count board after earning the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the Men’s 73kg weightlifting competition.

Julio Mayora

Julio Mayora

It’s Mayora’s first-ever Olympic medal and Venezuela’s first medal at the 2020 Olympics.

Mayora, who celebrated his silver medal with a mortal, after coming in second having lifted 346kg total.

Julio Mayora

Before participating in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Julio Mayora took part in the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships Men’s 67kg, winning a bronze medal with a 322 kg total.

Mayora’s passion for the sport of halterofilia is evident on his Instagram feed and the day he found out he’s going to Tokyo for the Olympics 2020, he shared an emotional post.

Julio Mayora“One of the biggest dreams of an athlete is to attend Olympic Games, in the morning I received such news, I feel grateful for representing Venezuela,” Mayora wrote in Spanish, and today he has become an icon for his country.

Rafael Alba Wins Cuba’s First Medal at the Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Rafael Alba has put Cuba on the board…

The 27-year-old Cuban taekwondo athlete won his men’s +80kg bronze medal taekwondo match 5-4 against Japan’s Sun Hongyi to claim Cuba’s first medal of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Rafael Alba

The two-time world taekwondo champion won the medal, one of the two bronze medals awarded in the sport, in a match that took place on the tatami installed at the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in Chiba, to the east of the capital.

Rafael Alba

It was Alba’s second appearance at the Olympics. He previously competed at the 2016 Rio Games.

Mexico’s Gabriela Agúndez & Alejandra Orozco Claim Synchronized Diving Bronze at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Gabriela Agúndez and Alejandra Orozco

The 20-year-old Mexican diver and her 24-year-old diving partner have claimed Mexico’s second bronze medal of the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Gabriela Agúndez & Alejandra OrozcoAgundez and Orozco placed third in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving event at the Olympics.

Agundez and Orozco finished with 299.70 points, .54 points ahead of the Canadian team.

Gabriela Agúndez & Alejandra OrozcoIt’s Agundez’s first Olympic medal and Orozco’s second. She previously won a silver medal alongside teammate Paola Espinosa in the same event at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Spain’s Maialen Chourraut Completes Olympic Medal Set with Canoeing Silver at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Maialen Chourraut couldn’t pull off a repeat, but she’s still shining bright…

The 38-year-old Spanish slalom canoeist, who won the gold medal in the K1 event at the 2016 Rio Games, had to settle for silver after the women’s slalom K-1 canoeing event at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Maialen Chourraut

It was Chourraut’s fourth Olympic appearance, having also won bronze at the 2012 London Games.

With this silver, Chourraut, Spain’s oldest competitor at the Tokyo Games this year, has completed her gold-silver-bronze set of Olympic medals.

Along with the silver medal in canoeing, Spain has also claimed another silver medal in Taekwondo, as well as a bronze medal in men’s cycling.

Brazil’s Italo Ferreira Claims First-Ever Surfing Gold at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Italo Ferreira has earned his place in Olympic history…

The 27-year-old Brazilian professional surfer overcame challenging conditions in brilliant style to win historic first Olympic surfing gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games on Tuesday.

Italo Ferreira

Competing at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, Ferreira recovered from breaking his board on the first wave to beat Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi in the shortboard final.

Australia’s Owen Wright took the men’s bronze after a tense 35-minute battle with world number one Gabriel Medina, edging out the Brazilian by two-tenths of a point.

The final day of competition started with big, clean waves that delighted the competitors, but a strong onshore breeze picked up to make the swell choppier and more inconsistent with good waves harder to come by.

Italo Ferreira

It made no difference to Ferreira as he went on the attack in pursuit of Olympic gold.

Knowing he had done enough to win, Ferreira began surfing his way in to the shore with a minute to go, greeting the final horn with his arms stretched to the heavens before being carried shoulder-high from the water by his teammates.

“I think it’s one of the best days of my life, for sure. For me that was a long day and it was a dream come true, for sure. The last couple of months I’ve been training a lot, just to live in this moment,” an emotional Ferreira told reporters.

He also gave Ferreira the first gold for Brazil at the Tokyo Games.

Ali Aguilar & Rachel Garcia: First American Latinx Athletes to Win Medals at the Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Ali Aguilar and Rachel Garcia are silver belles… 

The 25-year-old Latina softball player and the 24-year-old Latina softball player are the first American Latinx athletes to claim a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Team USA Softball

Aguilar, Garcia and their Team USA mates had to settle for the silver after losing the gold medal match in softball to Japan by a score of 2-0.

As with any high-stakes softball game, there were many little moments that ultimately proved crucial. But the entire game was summed up in the bottom of the sixth. With two on and one out and slugger Amanda Chidester up, a moment that will be remembered for a long time by the players in this game unfolded.

Chidester hit a rocket down the third-base line that smashed into Japan third baseman Yu Yamamoto‘s arm. At that point, the ball could’ve gone anywhere, and it seemed certain the Americans were going to get one run and maybe even two. But the ball bounded right to shortstop Mana Atsumi, who made a leaping catch and doubled off a runner to end the inning.

The stunned looks on the U.S. faces following that moment summed up the game.

“Fortune went the way of Japan on that,” said U.S. coach Ken Eriksen. “It wasn’t our day, we had some bad luck.”

It’s the first Olympic medal for Aguilar and Garcia.

Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer Breaks South American Record in Men’s 200m Freestyle at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Fernando Scheffer is proving his medal…

The 23-year-old Brazilian swimmer, competing in his first Olympics, claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 200m freestyle swimming event at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Fernando Scheffer

Scheffer broke the South American record in the event’s heats, with a time of 1:45.05, ranking 2nd for the semifinal.

After qualifying with the last place in the semifinals, Scheffer outperformed himself again in the final, beating his South American record again by a wide margin, with a time of 1:44.66, to claim the bronze.

Fernando Scheffer

In doing so, Scheffer repeated the feat of Gustavo Borges, the last Brazilian to obtain an Olympic medal in the event.

Scheffer lowered the South American record by nearly 1 second at the Olympics to win the medal.

Brazil’s Rayssa Leal Claims Silver Medal at Tokyo Games

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2020 Tokyo Games

Rayssa Leal is livin’ a teenage dream…

The 13-year-old skateboarder, known as “A Fadinha do Skate“, which translates roughly to “The Skate Fairy,” has skated her way onto the medal stand at the 2020 Tokyo Games after the women’s street skateboarding competition.

Rayssa Leal

Leal was thisclose to taking home the gold medal before Japan’s Momiji Nishiya used her final trick to leapfrog Leal with a score of 15.26. Leal finished with a score of 14.64, just behind Nishiya, earning her the silver medal.

They both were nearly the youngest medalists in Olympic history. Denmark’s Inge Sorensen was 12 years and 24 days old when he earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1936 Olympics.

Each competitor had two 45-second runs and five individual tricks in which judges had an opportunity to grade. However, Nishiya was the only competitor that was able to land her final trick in the event.

“I’m very happy to make this dream come true,” Leal said following the event. “It’s a dream for my parents and it’s a dream for me to be here at the Olympics. It’s fantastic to represent Brazil and get this medal. I had great fun.”

Leal introduced herself to the skateboarding world in 2015, when, while wearing a fairytale princess costume, the then 8-year-old went viral for her skating prowess. Even skating legend Tony Hawk tweeted about her back then:

Six years later, Leal is an Olympic silver medalist.