Patricia Villarreal Vargas (born June 5, 1983) is a Mexican former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. She represented

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, as a 17-year-old, at the

2000 Summer 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 ...

, and also became a member of Sharks Swim Club at the

Bolles School The Bolles School is an American private college preparatory day and boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. It has a lower school (including pre-kindergarten), a middle school, and a high school, spread across four campuses around the Jackson ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

under her personal coach Larry Shofe. Villarreal swam only in a long-distance freestyle double at the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. She achieved

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

B-standards of 4:22.27 (400 m freestyle) and 8:52.04 (800 m freestyle) from the Mexican Youth Olympic Festival in

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo Municipality, Her ...

. On the second day of the Games, Villarreal placed thirty-third in the

400 m freestyle 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. Swimming in heat one, she came up with a fantastic swim on the final lap to pick up a third seed in 4:21.03, sufficiently enough for her lifetime best. Five days later, in the

800 m freestyle 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, Villarreal participated in heat one against three other swimmers

Ivanka Moralieva Ivanka Moralieva ( bg, Иванка Моралиева; born 15 October 1983) is a Bulgarian former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events and open water marathon. Since 2001, she holds a Bulgarian record in the 1500 m freesty ...

of Bulgaria,

Lin Chi-chan Lin Chi-chan (; born January 11, 1980) is a Taiwanese former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle but also competed in backstroke. She represented Chinese Taipei in two editions of the Olympic Games (1996 and 2000), and later ear ...

of Chinese Taipei, and

Cecilia Biagioli Cecilia Elizabeth Biagioli (born 3 January 1985 in Córdoba, Argentina) is an Olympic and national record-holding swimmer from Argentina. She swam for Argentina at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She represented Argentina at the 2020 Sum ...

of Argentina. Starting from last on an early length, she held off a challenge from Lin to grab a second seed and twenty-first overall in 8:54.79, two seconds below her entry standard.

References

1983 births Living people Olympic swimmers for Mexico Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Mexican female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Torreón Pan American Games competitors for Mexico 20th-century Mexican women 21st-century Mexican women {{Mexico-swimming-bio-stub