Mariana Avitia

Mariana Avitia Martínez (born September 18, 1993) is a Mexican recurve archer. She was the first Mexican to win an Olympic medal in archery after taking bronze in the women's individual event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is also the youngest Mexican athlete to compete in two Olympic Games, contesting both the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Summer Youth Olympics by the age of seventeen.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Avitia and the second or maternal family name is Martínez.
Mariana Avitia
Avitia (right) at the 2012 Summer Olympics women's individual archery event medal ceremony
Personal information
Full nameMariana Avitia Martínez
NationalityMexican
Born (1993-09-18) September 18, 1993
Monterrey, Nuevo León
Sport
Country Mexico
SportArchery
Event(s)Recurve
Medal record
Women's archery
Representing  Mexico
Summer Olympics
2012 London Individual
World Championships
2017 MexicoTeam
Pan American Games
2011 Guadalajara Team
2019 Lima Team

Avitia has represented Mexico at international archery events since 2007. In addition to her Olympic medal she has also achieved medals at the 2017 World Archery Championships and the 2011 and 2019 Pan American Games.

Career

Avitia was first introduced to archery at age seven. She competed in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, finishing in 10th overall.[1]

2008–2011: Olympic debut

At aged 14, Avitia entered 2008 Summer Olympics as the youngest member of the Mexican Olympic team.[2] She finished the initial 72-arrow ranking round of the women's individual event with a total of 641 points — five fewer than teammate Aída Román — giving her the 20th seed for the knock-out rounds of the tournament.[3] Avitia began her head-to-head matches strongly with victories over North Korea's Son Hye-Yong, Poland's Malgorzata Cwienczek, and Georgia's Khatuna Narimanidze in the first three elimination rounds, the latter result being described as an upset by The Guardian.[4] With Román's defeat in the third round to North Korea's Kwon Un-sil, Avitia advanced to the quarter-finals as the sole Mexican left in the women's competition.[5] Facing Kwon in her quarter-final match, which took place in wet conditions, Avitia lost the twelve-arrow contest by 105 points to 99.[2]

Avitia won five medals at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, and her participation at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics shortly afterwards made Avitia Mexico's youngest athlete to compete in two Olympic games.[6] She narrowly missed out on a medal result, being eliminated by eventual winner Kwak Ye-ji of South Korea in the semi-finals and losing to Russia's Tatiana Segina in the bronze medal contest.[7]

Because of her performances in the preceding years Avitia was recognised as one of the strongest competitors at the 2011 Pan American Games and a challenger for the women's individual gold medal. She was however eliminated in the second round of the individual competition, although she did succeed in winning the women's team gold medal with Román and Alejandra Valencia.[8]

2012: Olympic medalist

Avitia was re-selected for the Mexican team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, entering the women's individual and women's team events alongside Aída Román and Alejandra Valencia. Scoring 659 points in the 72-arrow ranking round, Avitia earned the tenth seed for the individual competition, and combined with her teammates, the fourth seed for the team event. Her Olympic competition did not begin well with the trio eliminated from the team competition at the quarter-final stage.[9] She however had more success in the individual event, winning her first four matches – including a surprise victory over South Korea's Lee Sung-jin, the second seed and a gold medalist in the team competition – before losing to Román in the semi-finals.[10]

As the two losing archers from the semi-final, Avitia faced Khatuna Lorig of the United States in the bronze medal match. In difficult conditions which saw unpredictable wind gusts, Avitia overcame the five-time Olympian to win her maiden Olympic medal, her bronze and Román's silver in the final securing Mexico's first ever archery Olympic medals.[11][12] The pair's success marked the first time since the 1984 Summer Olympics that Mexican athletes had shared the podium in any Olympic discipline, and the first time it had been achieved by Mexican women.[13]

2013–2016: International break

Following the 2012 Olympics up to the end of 2015, Avitia prioritised her university studies and life outside of sport over competitive archery.[14] Although her overall form was not consistent enough to be chosen to compete at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games or the 2015 Pan American Games,[15] she nevertheless won the Mexican national championship in 2015 with victory over Aída Román in the final.[16] In early 2016 she was unsuccessful in her bid to win selection for the 2016 Summer Olympics at the national team trials.[14]

2017–2019: Team silver medals
Avitia (centre) at the 2017 World Archery Championships

Avitia returned to the national team in 2017 and participated in the World Archery Championships taking place on home soil in México City. Although she did not advance beyond the third round in the women's individual event, she and teammates Aída Román and Alejandra Valencia reached the final of the women's team competition to face the reigning champions South Korea.[17] Despite a strong start the trio were unable to overcome the South Koreans, who recorded their thirteenth title in the women's team discipline. Avitia, Román, and Valencia received silver medals as runners-up.[18]

A mixed 2018 followed for Avitia, as she failed to achieve selection for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in March – only entering the competition as the Mexican team's reserve behind Román, Valencia, and Ana Paula Vázquez[19] – before helping win silver medal in the women's team event of August's Pan American Archery Championships in Medellin.[20]

In 2019 Avitia was she successfully re-selected to the national team, her third place in the national trials being rewarded with entries for the year's World Archery Championship in June and Pan American Games in August.[21] She however had a disappointing World Championships when she, Román and Valencia were eliminated from the team competition prior to the quarter-final stage, a loss that ended Mexico's chances of qualifying for the women's team event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[22] The Pan American Games two months later saw Avitia contributing to another women's team silver medal and achieving Mexico's 134th medal of the games, a new national record.[23]

References
  1. Bremer, Catherine (4 August 2008). "Classy Mariana, 14, delights at Games time". Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2. "Mariana Avitia hace historia al terminar octava en la prueba de tiro con arco" [Mariana Avitia makes history by finishing eighth in archery competition]. La Jornada (in Spanish). 15 August 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  3. "Entre las primeras veinte" [Among the first twenty]. ESPN (in Spanish). Notimex. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. Butler, Eddie (14 August 2008). "Olympics: Folkard misses quarter-final spot". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  5. "Aida Román rompe en llanto tras su eliminación" [Aida Román breaks into tears after her elimination]. El Informador (in Spanish). Notimex. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6. "El gimnasta Javier Cervantes, a la final en los Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud" [Gymnast Javier Cervantes into the final in the Youth Olympic Games]. La Jornada (in Spanish). 17 August 2010. p. a15. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  7. Antille, Vanahé; Mieville, Didier (20 August 2010). "KWAK wins the women's gold in Singapore". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  8. Díaz Reyes, Adriana; Alfonso Morales, Héctor (3 August 2012). "Certeros flechazos al corazón de México" [Accurate arrows to the heart of Mexico]. El Universal (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  9. "México quedó fuera en Cuartos de Final en tiro con arco femenil" [Mexico is out in women's archery quarter-finals]. Medio Tiempo (in Spanish). 29 July 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  10. "Korea claims second gold as Mexico makes history". World Archery Federation. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  11. Hamilton, Tracee (2 August 2012). "Ki Bo Bae wins archery gold; American Khatuna Lorig falters late to lose bronze". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  12. "Olimpiadas 2012: Mexicanas hacen el 2-3 histórico en tiro con arco (fotos)" [2012 Olympics: Mexicanas make historic 2-3 in archery (photos)]. La Opinión (in Spanish). Agencia EFE. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  13. "Archery Key Facts and Numbers". World Archery Federation. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  14. Trujano, Saúl (27 February 2016). "Mariana Avitia dice adiós a los Juegos Olímpicos" [Mariana Avitia says goodbye to the Olympic Games]. Excélsior (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  15. "Mariana Avitia busca sus terceros JO" [Mariana Avitia looks for her third Olympic Games]. Esto (in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  16. Vega, Marie (27 February 2015). "Uribe y Avitia, campeones nacionales de tiro con arco" [Uribe and Avitia, national archery champions]. Esto (in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  17. "Mexicana Mariana Avitia fue eliminada del Campeonato Mundial en la CDMX" [Mexicana Mariana Avitia eliminated from the World Championship in Mexico City]. Medio Tiempo (in Spanish). 19 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  18. "South Korea beats Mexico in women's recurve team final". EFE. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  19. Cruz, Carlos (25 March 2018). "Avitia y Serrano, fuera de la selección de tiro con arco" [Avitia and Serrano, outside the archery team]. Milenio (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  20. "México brilla en el Panamericano de Tiro con Arco" [Mexico shines in the Pan American Archery]. Esto (in Spanish). 19 August 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  21. "Arquera Mariana Avitia ve recompensado trabajo con selección nacional" [Arquera Mariana Avitia sees work rewarded with national team]. 20 Minutos (in Spanish). Notimex. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  22. Reyes, Héctor (12 June 2019). "México no tendrá equipo de Tiro con Arco en Tokio 2020" [Mexico will not have an Archery team in Tokyo 2020]. Esto (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  23. "México supera su récord de medallas en tiro con arco" [Mexico exceeds its medal record in archery]. TUDN (in Spanish). 11 August 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
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