Who to blame for Mexico’s zero-medals-miserable-failure at the Rio Olympics?
Right off the top of my head the first person comes to mind would be National Sports Commission (Conade) director Alfredo Castillo, who was seen in Rio and Brasilia this week allegedly accompanied by a lovely looking “interpreter,” having a lot of fun.
In fact, Alfredo Castillo is being mocked online with the old Christmas carol that is sung during the posadas in December which says:
“I don’t want gold, I don’t want silver, all I want is to break the piñata.”
Castillo will sure get his reward for “breaking the piñata” with a downpour of insults from a whole bunch of Mexican sports fans who expected a better performance from the nation’s Olympians.
Ever since he was appointed by President Enrique Peña Nieto as a troubleshooter in the conflictive state of Michoacán, Castillo, a tennis player, wanted out of politics, so he requested the Conade directorship, and got it.
Immediately there was a reaction as to whether he was qualified for that particular post, which has usually gone to people who were connected with the Olympic sports world.
From the start, Alfredo Castillo began having problems with international sports federations over money matters and Mexico’s participation in several sports was imperiled. Most notorious was his squabble with International Basketball Federation, which in the end forced Team Mexico out of the competition.
He also had problems with the International Swimming Federation (ISF), as Mexico was slated to host the World Diving Championships, but after shelling out a $10 million fee for the rights for the competition the ISF demanded $5 million more, which Castillo refused to pay. The championship was awarded then to Budapest which paid the $15 million demanded, and the Federation got to keep the $10 Castillo had paid.
Who’s to blame?
Castillo has also had problems with the Mexican Boxing Federation over the rights of amateur boxers. From the start of their careers, most amateur boxers are lured by the pro boxing prospect of making money for the same amount of punches they would trade for free. The end result is that in a sport in which Mexico has great stars, participants were not even close to getting “a clay medal,” as the joke says.
He allegedly had problems with World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaimán and in public he stated this week that at the Mexican Amateur Boxing Federation “people are very much afraid of Sulaimán.”
Something in Castillo’s favor, in regards to the failure of all Mexican participants is that even though he is responsible for managing the National Sports Commission, he is not responsible for results.
He said, “we absolutely support all of our athletes, and on that basis I don’t think we should pressure them, because each one of them has corresponding pressures within their own sport.”
It will not be long before the complete evaluation of Mexico’s performance — or lack of it — in the Rio Olympic Games will have to be made, resulting in zero medals.
But Mexicans have consolation in inner happiness, and the choir singing Cielito Lindo can be heard. When you’re a loser, the way the Olympians were this year, there’s always singing “ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores.”
At the presidential residence of Los Pinos, there was hope for the president to pay homage to all the winners, but even this traditional gathering has been postponed until 2020.
Was the president to blame for appointing Alfredo Castillo as sports commissioner?
Forget it, Mexico. Sing and don’t cry.
