Special report: 2008 Olympic Games
By Alejandra del Palacio
MEXICO CITY, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Carlos Padilla, Chief Mission of the Mexican Olympic Committee (COM), told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday that Mexico "is going to compete and to give the best results" at the Beijing Olympic Games.
"To the moment, there are 85 Mexican athletes who have got passes to the Olympics, but is possible to get other two passes on women's volleyball and women's triathlon," Padilla said.
"It won't be easy. The bests of the world are in front of us," he added. "We requested the athletes to achieve mark A as the minimum to classify, therefore all the Mexicans to compete on the Olympics are the best that Mexico has, and they will do the best to have good results."
"Mexico could reach seven or nine finals," continued the chief, adding that Mexico expects its best results on diving, walking, taekwondo, canoeing and archery.
The COM declined to make promises on winning medals like they previously did, after deciding not to generate expectation on Mexican citizens
The 85 Mexican athletes will compete on 21 disciplines in 63 different events, while the delegation will be of 156 persons of sportsmen, coaches, doctors, directives and staff, from which 18 are doctors and physiatrists.
According to Padilla, some of Mexican sportsmen are already living in Beijing in order to acclimatized themself to the climate, and to have better physical condition for facing their trails.
Sports delegations that are already in Beijing are weightlifting and archery.
Regarding the doping issue, the chief said Mexico is completely sure that Mexican athletes will not have any problem.
"They are completely clean, because Mexican athletes have been checked regularly on programmed tests and surprise tests and in all of them there are negative results on doping," Padilla said.
This is the first time, Mexico will not compete on team sports during the Olympics.
"That has given them the lesson that it doesn't matter how good the sportsmen are, sometimes they don't make enough efforts to attend the Olympic Games," Padilla said.
He continued to mention that Mexican athletes have received advisory on Chinese culture, customs, basic protocol and basic Chinese vocabulary, as Chinese embassy in Mexico has participated in some of the advisories.
Telmex (Telefonos de Mexico) foundation will reward with five million pesos (about 500,000 U.S. dollars) to the Mexican athletes who win a gold medal, with 300,000 dollars to those who win silver and with 200,000 to those who win bronze.
The chief visited the Olympic facilities in Beijing on January, and said "China has the best sports facilities in the world", adding that Mexican sports institution should learn from the Chinese work frame.
Mexico is currently launching a new strategy on sports policy in other to make it with people's character, they are planning to even start programs in public elementary schools.
The country firstly participated in the Olympic Games was in Los Angeles 1932, and since then Mexico has participated in all the following Olympics and won 10 gold medals, 18 silver medals and 23 bronze medals.
