Mariana Avitia Martínez (born September 18, 1993) is a Mexican recurve

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

. 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 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

. She is also the youngest Mexican athlete to compete in two Olympic Games, contesting both 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 Nat ...

and

2010 Summer Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...

by the age of seventeen. 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 The 2017 World Archery Championships was the 49th edition of the event. It was held in Mexico City, Mexico from 15 to 22 October 2017 and was organised by World Archery Federation (formerly known as FITA). Qualification and elimination rounds t ...

and the 2011 and 2019

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 hel ...

Career

Avitia was first introduced to archery at age seven. She competed in the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic C ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, finishing in 10th overall.

2008–2011: Olympic debut

At aged 14, Avitia entered

as the youngest member of the Mexican Olympic team. 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 Aída Nabila Román Arroyo (born May 21, 1988) is a Mexican archer. A three-time Olympian, she won silver medal in the women's individual event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was the women's World Indoor Archery Champion in 2014. She has addi ...

— giving her the 20th seed for the knock-out rounds of the tournament. 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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''. With Román's defeat in the third round to North Korea's

Kwon Un-sil Kwon Un-sil (born September 17, 1983 in Hamhung, South Hamgyong) is an athlete from North Korea who competes in archery. 2008 Summer Olympics At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Kwon finished her ranking round with a total of 656 po ...

, Avitia advanced to the quarter-finals as the sole Mexican left in the women's competition. Facing Kwon in her quarter-final match, which took place in wet conditions, Avitia lost the twelve-arrow contest by 105

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

to 99. Avitia won five medals at the

2010 Central American and Caribbean Games The 21st Central American and Caribbean Games (Spanish: ''XXI Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Mayagüez 2010'') took place in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, from 18 July 2010 to 1 August 2010. Bid It was understood that Mayagüez was going to b ...

, and her participation at the

shortly afterwards made Avitia Mexico's youngest athlete to compete in two Olympic games. 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. Because of her performances in the preceding years Avitia was recognised as one of the strongest competitors at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

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 Alejandra Valencia Trujillo (born 17 October 1994) is a Mexican archer. Career She won two gold medals the 2011 Pan American Games — women's team and women's individual. She won bronze at 2011 World Archery Youth Championships recurve cadet ...

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

and

. 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. 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 Lee Sung-jin (; born March 7, 1985) is a Recurve (bow), recurve Archery, archer from South Korea. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning in the Archery at the Summer Olympics, women's team event at the Archery at the 2004 Summer Olymp ...

, the second seed and a gold medalist in the team competition – before losing to Román in the semi-finals. As the two losing archers from the semi-final, Avitia faced

Khatuna Lorig Khatuna Lorig (; born January 1, 1974, as Khatuna Kvrivishvili, ka, ხათუნა ქვრივიშვილი) is a Georgian archer who immigrated to the United States. She has used at least 3 different last names while competing ...

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. The pair's success marked the first time since the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

that Mexican athletes had shared the podium in any Olympic discipline, and the first time it had been achieved by Mexican women.

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. Although her overall form was not consistent enough to be chosen to compete at the

2014 Central American and Caribbean Games The 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games were held November 14–30, 2014 in Veracruz, Mexico.Sport page

or the
2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...
, she nevertheless won the Mexican national championship in 2015 with victory over Aída Román in the final. In early 2016 she was unsuccessful in her bid to win selection for the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
at the national team trials.

2017–2019: Team silver medals
Avitia returned to the national team in 2017 and participated in the World Archery Championships taking place on home soil in
México City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
. 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. 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. 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 – before helping win silver medal in the women's team event of August's Pan American Archery Championships in Medellin. 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 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 hel ...
in August. 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 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
. 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.

References

External links
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Avitia, Mariana 1993 births Living people Archers at the 2007 Pan American Games Archers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Archers at the 2011 Pan American Games Archers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2019 Pan American Games Mexican female archers Olympic archers for Mexico Sportspeople from Monterrey Olympic bronze medalists for Mexico Olympic medalists in archery Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in archery Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 20th-century Mexican women 21st-century Mexican women