Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza (born March 4, 1977) is a Mexican former
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
athlete who specialized in the 400 meters and is the 7th fastest female 300-meter runner in the world, running 300 meters in 35.3 seconds on May 3, 2003. She served as a
Mexican Senator for the 2012–2018 term.
Early life
Guevara was born in
Nogales, Sonora
Heroica Nogales (), more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales. It is located on the northern border of the Mexican state of Sonora. The city is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizo ...
. Her parents are Cesar Octavio Guevara and Ana MarÃa Espinoza. She has four siblings: Azalia, César, Daniela, and Jaime.
Athletic career
Ana's career began in 1996 when she started participating in her first international competition. In 1998, she won two silver medals in the
Central American and Caribbean Games
The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...
in the 400 and
800 meters
The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...
.
Her first major victory was the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 1999
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
in Canada. A year later, she qualified to the
2000 Sydney Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
going to the 400 meters finals, finishing with a reasonable 5th place with a time of 49.96 seconds. After that race, she won 28 consecutive international races before a second-place finish in Rome in July 2004.
In 2001, she won the 400-meter race at the
Herculis
The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League.
World records
Over the course of its history, five world reco ...
in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, one of the two 400-meter events held at Golden League competitions that year. At the
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...
, Guevara made the finals in the 400 m. She came off the last turn leading the race with about 105 meters to go. Unfortunately, she could not keep the fast pace and was passed by
Amy Mbacké Thiam
Amy Mbacké Thiam (born November 10, 1976) is a Senegalese athlete competing in the 400 metres.
Biography
She has won medals in two World Championships, but at the 2004 Olympics she was knocked out in the heats. She is best known for winning the ...
from
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤠(Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤠ðž ...
and
Lorraine Fenton
Lorraine Fenton (born Lorraine Graham on 8 September 1973 in Manchester) is a retired Jamaican athlete who specialized in the 400 metres.
Career
Her career highlight came when she won the Olympic silver medal in 2000, being the first Jamaican ...
from
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
with no more than 20 meters to go. Guevara won the bronze medal posting a season-best with a time of 49.97 seconds. In fact, Fenton and Mbacke Thiam also posted personal bests, the last one also being a
national record.
In 2002, she won all seven competitions of 400 m of the
Golden League (
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Rome, Monaco,
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
) sharing the jackpot of one million dollars in gold bars with three athletes. She also won the gold medal at the
2002 IAAF World Cup
The 9th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was hosted by Madrid, September 21–22, 2002, in the Estadio La Peineta. The IAAF worl ...
in 400 m and 400 m relay, running for the Americas team. She won the
2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final
The 2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final was the eighteenth edition of the season-ending competition for the IAAF Grand Prix track and field circuit, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held on 14 September at the Stad ...
in Paris.
In 2003, she defended her title in the 400 m at the 2003 Pan American Games winning the gold medal. She won the 400-meter race at the
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...
, one of the two 400 m events held at Golden League competitions that year. Later, on August 27, 2003, in Paris, France, she won the
2003 World Championships in Athletics
The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
Men's results
...
in the women's 400 meters. She set a personal record, a national record, and a world-leading time, finishing in 48.89 seconds. She won the 400 m at the
2003 IAAF World Athletics Final The 1st IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 13 September and 14 September 2003. It was the series finale for the 2003 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings and the successor tournament to the 2002 IAAF Grand ...
in Monaco.
Guevara made her second Olympic appearance in 2004 as the flag carrier for the Mexican delegation and represented her country in the 400 m. After winning her heat in the first round, and her corresponding semi-final, she would go on to win the silver medal in the final. She won the 400 m at the
2004 IAAF World Athletics Final The 2nd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 18, and September 19, 2004.
The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary a week previous as the Monaco sta ...
in Monaco.
A year later, at the
2005 World Championships in Athletics
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...
, she won the bronze medal in the 400 meters with a time of 49.81 seconds, despite the heavy rainfall that occurred during the event.
In 2007, for the third consecutive time, she won the gold medal in the 400 m at the 2007 Pan American Games. In addition, she led Mexico's 4 × 400 m relay team to a second-place finish. About a month later, at the age of 30, Guevara participated in her fourth
World Championships in Athletics
The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...
in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
, Japan. She finished in fourth place with a season-best time of 50.16 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of 24-year-old
DeeDee Trotter
De'Hashia Tonnek "DeeDee" Trotter (born December 8, 1982 in Twentynine Palms, California) is an American athlete. Trotter is a former NCAA national champion in the 400m, and competed in the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics. There, she was ...
of the United States.
On January 16, 2008, she announced her retirement from all competitions due to conflicts with Mariano Lara, the then president of the Mexican Athletics Federation. No help was received at that time from
Carlos Hermosillo
Carlos Manuel Hermosillo Goytortúa (born 24 August 1964) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also known as ''El Grandote de Cerro Azul'' ("The big tall one from Cerro Azul"). He is the fifth all-time lea ...
, director of the CONADE (Comision Nacional de Cultura Fisica y Deporte), who did not act rapidly and the problem only grew bigger and continued for months. Ana finally said, "My retirement from sport in Mexico is now definitive, I contemplated the possibility of participating independently at the Olympic Games, but my dream was to participate for my country."
Political career
In 2009, Guevara entered politics, standing as the
Democratic Revolution Party
The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...
(PRD) candidate for
Miguel Hidalgo Delegation in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, ultimately losing to
Demetrio Sodi from the
National Action Party (PAN). She is a Mexican Senator for the 2012–2018 term having been postulated by the PRD, the Labor Party (PT), and the Citizen Movement Party.
On December 13, 2016, near Mexico City, Guevara was struck by a car while riding her motorcycle and was then physically beaten by the four men who were in the car. News outlets created a national outrage over this incident.
Personal bests
Achievements
References
External links
Official Website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara, Ana
1977 births
Living people
Mexican female sprinters
Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes of Mexico
Olympic silver medalists for Mexico
People from Nogales, Sonora
Sportspeople from Sonora
World Athletics Championships medalists
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Women members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico)
Labor Party (Mexico) politicians
Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico)
Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico
Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
21st-century Mexican politicians
21st-century Mexican women politicians
Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico
Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Mexico
Goodwill Games medalists in athletics
IAAF Golden League winners
World Athletics Championships winners
Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics
Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games
Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
Goodwill Games gold medalists in athletics
Olympic female sprinters
Politicians from Sonora
Mexican sportsperson-politicians