Imelda Martínez Gómez (born July 16, 1982, in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

) is a Mexican swimmer, who specialized in open water marathon. Martinez qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, after placing seventh in the 10 km Marathon Swimming Olympic test event at

Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park The Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park () was built for the Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics, rowing, Canoeing at the 2008 Summer Olympics, canoeing and Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 10 km open-water swimming events in the 2008 Summer O ...

. Martinez swam in the first-ever women's 10 km open water marathon, against a field of 24 other competitors, including South African amputee swimmer

Natalie du Toit Natalie du Toit OIG MBE (; born 29 January 1984) is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 S ...

, British duo

Keri-Anne Payne Keri-anne Payne (born 9 December 1987), also known by her married name Keri-anne Carry, is a South African-born British swimmer, specialising in marathon open water swimming, and long-distance freestyle swimming in the pool. She is a two-time 1 ...

and

Cassandra Patten Cassandra Lily Patten (born 1 January 1987 at Cardinham, Cornwall, United Kingdom) is a British freestyle swimmer and coach who won the bronze in the 10 km open-water event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Early life Cassie had always loved the ...

, and sixteen-year-old American

Chloe Sutton Chloe Elizabeth Sutton Mackey (born February 3, 1992) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle and long-distance events. Sutton represented the United States at two consecutive Olympic Games. Sutton has won a total of f ...

. Martinez finished the race in twentieth place, with a time of 2:01:07.9, one minute and forty seconds (1:40) behind winner

Larisa Ilchenko Larisa Dmitriyevna Ilchenko (russian: Лариса Дмитриевна Ильченко; born 18 November 1988) is a Russian long-distance swimmer. She has won eight world titles and a gold at the 2008 Olympics. Biography Ilchenko has dominated ...

of Russia.

References

External links

NBC Olympics Profile
Living people Olympic swimmers for Mexico Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Female long-distance swimmers Sportspeople from Monterrey 1982 births 20th-century Mexican women 21st-century Mexican women {{Mexico-swimming-bio-stub