Jennifer Lozano Qualifies for 2024 Paris Games by Reaching Women’s 50 Kilogram Final at Pan American Games

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lozano is headed to the City of Lights…

The 20-year-old Mexican American boxer, a native of Laredo, Texas, has qualified next year’s 2024 Paris Games by reaching the final of the women’s 50 kilogram weight class at the Pan American Games.

Lozano was dominant in the semifinal against Canada’s Mckenzie Wright, winning 5-0.

She will face Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira, a silver medalist in Tokyo, for the gold medal.

With the semifinal win, Lozano has given the city of Laredo its first Olympian.

Laredo has about 230,000 residents and sits on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Lozano said in a recent interview that her city, a mix of poor and better off, is “very small, very closed-minded,” and she wanted to overcome its machismo to thrive in sport.

Next year, both sides of the city will be pulling for the boxer nicknamed “La Traviesa.” It will be a different scene compared with a few years ago, when she was bullied for being overweight and a Spanish speaker.

Boxing changed it all for the hardcore fan of legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. Her other hero is her late grandmother, the main inspiration for her to compete.

“We are going to Paris, baby. La Traviesa es de Laredo, Texas. We are ready for all of the world, we are going to the Olympics,” a tearful Lozano said in a mixture of English and Spanish. “Being the first Olympian from Laredo means a lot to me.”

She celebrated her Olympic berth with family members who traveled to Santiago to watch her compete.

“I am very proud to be Mexican-American,” she said.

Laredo could get a second Olympian in Paris. Boxer Emilio Garcia, who could not secure his spot at the Pan American Games, will have two more events to try to qualify for next year in the 63.5 kilograms category.

Yaime Perez Claims Bronze in Women’s Discus Throw at Tokyo Games

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

The third time’s the charm for Yaime Perez…

Competing in her third Olympics, the 30-year-old Cuban athlete was able to finally take the medal stand after claiming the bronze medal in the women’s discus throw competition at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Perez completed the competition with a best-throw of 65.72 meters.

Team USA’s Valarie Allman took home the gold with a throw of 68.98 meters.

German’s Kristin Pudenz won the silver with a throw of 66.86 meters.

Pérez won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships and the 2019 Pan American Games.

Perez previously competed in the 2012 London Games, where she finished in 29th place in the qualifying round; and 2016 Rio Games, where she reached the final but did not advance after three throws.

Bruno Fratus Becomes Oldest Pool Swimmer to Win First Ever Olympic Medal at Tokyo Games

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Bruno Fratus’ wait is finally over…

The 32-year-old Brazilian competitive swimmer, considered one of the great men’s sprinters of this era, has earned his first career Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Fratus finished third in the final of the men’s 50 free, swimming a 21.57 to earn the bronze medal for Brazil. Team USA’s Caleb Dressel won the gold with a time of 21.07, setting an Olympic world record. France’s Florent Manaudou claimed silver with a 21.55.

Though Fratus has a decorated career at the World Championships, Pan Pacific, and Pan American Games, he had never won an Olympic medal until this one.

Additionally, Fratus has now become the oldest pool swimmer in history to win their first Olympic medal.

That title was previously held by American David Plummer, who won his first medal with a 3rd-place finish in the 100 back at the 2016 Rio Games at the age of 30. Plummer was 30 year, 304 days old when he earned his first medal, while Fratus was 32 years, 32 days old.

This wasn’t the first piece of history Fratus made in the past several days. With his semifinals performance of 21.60, Fratus became the first swimmer ever to record 90 sub-22 LCM 50 free performances in their career. He added to that total with his finals swim of 21.57, so he now has 91 career sub-22s. Fratus has hinted that these were his last Games, but it will be interesting if he chooses swims for another year or two, and is able to reach 100 sub-22 50 frees.

Yarisel Ramirez to Compete for USA Boxing at Tokyo Games

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Yarisel Ramirez will be gunnin’ for gold this month…

The 22-year-old Cuban-born featherweight boxer has been added to the Tokyo Games boxing tournament, becoming the 10th member of the U.S. team to qualify.

She’d already traveled to Japan in anticipation of gaining a late slot, and news of her addition by USA Boxing set off a celebration with her teammates.

Ramirez is the fourth American fighter to be awarded a late place at the Olympics. After the U.S. initially faced the prospect of heading to Tokyo with its smallest team in Olympic history, USA Boxing actually will have two more boxers in Tokyo than it had in Rio five years ago.

“Yarisel has been in this final training camp working extremely hard, waiting for this opportunity if her name were to be called,” said Mike McAtee, USA Boxing’s executive director. “During this whole process, Yarisel has showed nothing but maturity, determination and the drive to fulfill her Olympic dreams.”

Ramirez is getting one of the world qualifier allocation slots declined by Costa Rica’s Julianna Rodriguez and Argentina’s Leonela Sánchez, according to the website of the Boxing Task Force running the Tokyo tournament. Sánchez won the gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games while Ramirez won bronze.

Ramirez was born in Cuba, and she lives and trains in Las Vegas. Her first fight will be on July 24, the opening day of competition in Tokyo and exactly two weeks from her addition to the field.

“Through hard work, perseverance and faith, you can live your dreams,” Ramirez said.

With Ramirez’s addition, USA Boxing is currently the only team with a representative in all five women’s divisions in Tokyo. The Olympics added two weight classes — including the 57-kilogram (125.7 pounds) division, Ramirez’s featherweight, class — and increased the total number of women from 36 to 100 for the sport’s third trip to the Olympics.

The U.S. is the most successful nation in Olympic boxing history, winning 50 gold medals and 114 total medals. But primarily thanks to qualification changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic, only six Americans — and just two men — were in the initial version of the Tokyo Olympic field two months ago.

Three American men were added to the field last month after being awarded world qualifier allocation slots: middleweight Troy Isley, featherweight Duke Ragan and lightweight Keyshawn Davis, who is likely the Americans’ best gold medal hope among the men.

Vargas’ New Reality Series Premiering on mun2 in January

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Fernando Vargas is ready for his close-up…

Following a long hiatus, the 36-year-old retired Mexican American retired boxing star will be returning to the scene. But this time he’ll be headlining his own reality show on the mun2 cable network.

Entitled Welcome to Los Vargas, the series centers on the three-time world boxing champion, his wife of 20 years, Martha, their four dynamic children, Fernando Jr., Amado, Emiliano, and Mibella “China,” and Martha’s loving father, Alfredo.

The reality series will take viewers behind-the-scenes of the Vargas’ crazy and entertaining life, with Martha trying to balance their busy household of four kids and the recent addition of her father moving in, to Fernando’s mission of training the next great boxing champion and opening his own gym.

Whether inside or outside of the ring, Vargas – who won a bronze medal as an amateur at the 1995 Pan American Games – has never thrown in the towel, he’s confronted life’s obstacles with perseverance and gratitude. He contributes his success to the support of his loving family and faith in God.

“Viewers will get to see how our family deals with issues in a positive way,” Vargas says.

The celeb-reality series will give us a look at the man behind the medals, the husband, the father, and the entrepreneur. The Vargas family will open the doors to their home, share their most intimate moments, and prove that with love, patience, and laughter, that there’s nothing this family can’t handle.

Welcome to Los Vargas is being produced by Anyone Collective and executive produced by Shari Scorca for mun2.

The celeb-reality series will premiere on Sunday, January 26th at 9:00 pm EST/8 pm CST.

Espinoza to Reboot Her Successful Taekwondo Career…

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

She may be considered Mexico’s best-ever Olympic female athlete, but that’s all in the past for Maria del Rosario Espinoza…

The 25-year-old Mexican taekwondo practitioner – the only woman to win all possible titles in her sport – is planning to relaunch her athletic career from scratch as if she were starting off as a rookie.

“I’m going to clear the ledger and start all over, that’s how I handle myself and will handle myself,” said Espinoza, a double-medalist in Olympic taekwondo. “It’s like if the World (Championships) next year were the first, just like the next Olympic Games.”

Espinoza was one of the Mexican athletes to receive the National Sports Prize on Sunday from President Enrique Peña Nieto.

She most recently won a bronze medal in the 67-kilo class at the 2012 London Games over the summer, continuing a string of victories dating back to the 2007 World Championships and Pan American Games.

Espinoza won medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games.

She’s the only woman to win all the possible titles in her sport.

“I have a lot of things going for me now and the maturity can help me a lot in taking advantage of everything so that things will go well,” said Espinoza.

Marques Becomes First Latina to Win a Modern Pentathlon Olympic Medal

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Yane Marques’ name should soon appear in the Olympic history books following her medal-winning performance at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The 28-year-old Brazilian athlete claimed the bronze medal on Sunday in the modern pentathlon at the London Games, making her the first Latina to win a medal in that event since it was added to the competition roster at the 2000 Olympic Games.

The modern pentathlon contest includes five events: fencing, swimming, riding and a combined run/shoot portion.

Marques and top-ranked Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania were tied for the lead going into the final contest, the combined running and shooting event. Marques shot better, but Asadauskaite overtook her in the first running lap and stayed ahead of the field to claim the gold medal.

Samantha Murray of Britain edged Marques out of silver position after overtaking her in the final round. Marques’ final score was a 5340, only 16 points behind Murray’s score of 5356.

But Marques shouldn’t be ashamed… It was a vast improvement from her previous Olympic effort for the 2007 Pan American Games champion, who finished in 18th place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Crismanich Breaks Argentina’s Gold Medal Drought at the London Games

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Sebastián Crismanich is making history at the 2012 Olympic Games…

In an all-Latino final, the 26-year-old Argentinean fighter defeated Nicolas Garcia of Spain to claim Olympic taekwondo gold on Friday in the men’s 80-kilogram division at the London Games. Garcia had to settle for silver.

In what proved to be a cautious final, both fighters seemed reluctant to attack and spent most of the match simply blocking each other’s kicks. Crismanich finally managed to land a body shot with eight seconds remaining to win 1-0.

Along with giving Argentina its first Olympic medal in taekwondo, Crismanich’s victory makes him the first individual athlete to win a gold medal for Argentina in some 64 years.

It’s the first Olympic medal for Crismanich, who won the Pan American Games title last year.

In most of his matches on Friday, the Argentinean fighter was on the attack early, catching his opponents off guard with a rapid succession of body shots and head kicks.

The bronze medals were won by Lutalo Muhammad of Great Britain and Mauro Sarmiento of Italy.

González Makes a Strong Showing at the French Open

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He may not have raised the championship trophy at the French Open, but Santiago González still has plenty of reason to be proud of his performance at Roland Garros.

The 29-year-old Mexican tenista and his mixed doubles partner Klaudia Jans-Ignacek—who lost in the finals on Thursday to No. 7 seeds Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi 7-6(3), 6-1—weren’t even expected to make it past the first round.

González and Jans-Ignacek weren’t ranked coming into the tournament, but defeated No. 8 seeds Nadia Petrova and Daniel Nestor in the first round to lay down a marker.

And the unheralded pairing looked like they would continue their Parisian fairy-tale right through to the title when they broke Mirza’s first service game to lead 2-0. But Gonzalez could not serve out the first set at 5-4, allowing the Indian team to get back on serve. The set would end in a tie-break, with Mirza and Bhupathi winning it 7-3.

In the second set, it seemed like the magic was gone with Bhupathi and Mirza cruising to two breaks and winning 6-1.

For González—who won a gold medal in mixed doubles at last year’s Pan American Games in Guadalajara—it was his best showing at a Grand Slam tournament, besting his previous-best showing at this year’s Australian Open.

Mendoza Encouraging Latinas to Get in the Game…

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Dare to be different! That’s the message Olympic gold medalist Jessica Mendoza is sharing with young Latinas.

The 31-year-old Mexican American softball star—who helped lead the U.S. women’s national softball team to a gold medal at the Athens 2004 games—says young Latinas can differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack by going to college and dedicating their energies to sports.

“In the Latino community there are many cultural barriers and pre-established roles so that girls remain inside the home and do not devote time to sports,” Mendoza told Efe. “Playing sports, in particular, causes Latinas to have more confidence in themselves, they are a road to education.”

Born in Camarillo, California, the former 4-time First Team All-American softball player, is the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. She graduated from Stanford University, where she was the school’s Athlete of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Along with a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Mendoza has helped lead the U.S. women’s softball team two world cups (2006-2007), two world championships (2002 and 2006), two gold medals in the Pan American Games in 2003 and 2007 and a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, among others.

“A problem in the Hispanic community is that many girls and boys are overweight,” said Mendoza, who is a reporter and analyst for ESPN. “So we have to provide the incentive in Latino homes … to get out of the house to play sports.”

Mendoza said that her love of sports started during her childhood because her father coached baseball, but as a Latina she grew up seeing that there were few Latina role models in sports.

“I started playing baseball at 4, but I only played with males and at 8 I began playing softball with other girls, the model to follow was my dad, who is a bilingual coach and on the field would direct one person in English and, at the same time, he’d give tips to another in Spanish,” she recounted.

“My father played a lot in school and because of his talents in sports he was able to study in good schools and do well in all academic areas to be successful in life,” Mendoza said.

Married to a civil engineer and the mother of a 3-year-old boy, Mendoza also devotes herself to giving motivational talks to young people in U.S. schools and abroad.

“I like to focus myself on seeing how I can help in the Latino community with my words,” she said.

Mendoza said that she knows very well that in the Latino community there is a cycle in which girls begin to have children at an early age and don’t continue their studies at college.

“We new generations of Latinas have to be different and to dare to be the first in the family to think differently about enrolling to study at community colleges or universities,” she said.

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