For the first time in Yucatán’s history, a total of six athletes from the state will be representing Mexico at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, according to Jorge Antonio Esteban Abud, director of the State Institute of Sports (IDEY), in an interview with media outlets.
“This is a historic event, as we will have six Yucatecan athletes participating in Paris 2024, which sets a new record. We are also including the two girls who will be representing us at the Paralympics,” said the state official, adding that the athletes include Gilda Cota in shot put and Jessica García in taekwondo.
Regarding the Olympic Games, Abud mentioned that the Yucatecan athletes participating are Dalia Alcocer, Julia Gutiérrez, and Adirem Tejada, who will be part of the artistic gymnastics team, while Regina Alférez is part of the artistic swimming team. “We are happy to have women representing us, and it’s a motivational topic for male athletes.”
The state official indicated that the representation of Yucatecan athletes at the Olympics is a reflection of the formal work carried out by IDEY in sports units, where over 2,500 children engage in physical activity every day, which undoubtedly motivates them to start practicing a particular sport.
In this sense, he mentioned that more than 1,000 girls and boys are currently taking summer courses at the seven sports units in the city provided by the institute, learning disciplines such as chess, athletics, fencing, table tennis, taekwondo, baseball, football, among others.
Referring to these summer courses, many of which serve as a starting point for forming high-performance athletes, he said that many children who take these classes approach their parents after finishing to ask them to register them in the discipline they enjoyed most, with the intention of starting training in September when registrations begin.
