I just want to mention how important it is that Alexa Moreno (and also Rebeca Andrade) are competing in artistic gymnastics finals with chances of geting medals. Not just for their own countries but for a mot of people in Latinoamerica.
This is a dicipline where Latin American countries do not usually stand out, it is even rare to see a latina represent their country in the finals and all the bets aren't usually on them to end on the top positions.
I think Alexa's name started to be known arround Rio '16 olympics, at least for the average mexican, and it wasn't because of her work: after the first qualification round she became viral in Mexico because of her appearance, a lot of people made fun of her because she didn't have the typical body of a gymnast and they called her "fat"... the jokes/insults came from mexicans! Her own people! Where half of the country look "not skiny" like her, myself included!!! (and I am just saying "not skiny" becuse she has a healthy body as the athlete she is, unlike arround 70% of mexicas who are overweight).
Well she responded with a tweet saying "she looks like a mexican because she is a mexican", then she posted a bunch of photos in Rio (while we mexicans just saw Rio through our screens) and she ended 12 in the vault rankings.
She continued training and in 2018 she won the bronze medal in Qatar becoming the first mexican to get on the podium in an artistic gymnastics world cup, then she won bronze again in 2019, the same year that the governent decide to make major budget cuts in sports and culture (to finance their own government proyects 🙄). Last week she became the second mexican to ever get into a final round in the olympics, I feel proud of her just by knowing she is in that position and by what she has accomplished.
That was just about Alexa's past few years in olympics. Now take a look to these two athletes:
They certainly don't look like the average gymnast that could be in olympic games, I know that this idea of the "typical look" of a gymnast has been changing in the last years and it is AMAZING! Rebeca and Alexa are also being part of that change! Just imagine the little girls from Mexico and Brazil watching someone from their country compete in a final, also the representatives of all the other latin american countries that couldn't reach this round and the ones aspiring to be competing there one day, now they can see someone that looks like them. THIS IS HUGE!!!!
I don't aspire to be in gymnastics or anything like that, I am just a fan that watches gymnastics whenever they are on tv... but those two girls being part of that change hits me in an special way becuase they are latinas and they look like the people I see every day! and they are standing out in a sport that isn't the specialty in any of these countries (thus they don't have the same support or funding by their national sports commissions). I hope they get sufficient visibility so that those who aspire to practice this sport can do so.
I think their participation today is full of merit and even if they don't get any medals they already made history.
