UCAM athlete María Pérez, student of the UCAM Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, and her partner, Álvaro Martín, an athlete trained by José Antonio Carrillo, coach of UCAM Athleo Cieza, won the gold medal in the novel event of the mixed relay. A new landmark for the Spanish race walking in the history of the Olympic Games.  The Spanish duo, who had won silver (María) and bronze (Álvaro) in the individual event, were the favourites for the podium in all the pools. And they lived up to the expectations.

From the first relay, the Spanish showed that they were going to be in the leading group, keeping up with the strong pace imposed by the Chinese. The first key moment came with the great selection made in the first women's relay in which María Pérez stood her ground, leaving Álvaro Martín among the best for her second relay. This moment was a turning point because the Chinese were sent to the penalty zone for three minutes. This took them out of the fight for the gold and left Álvaro with the Olympic champion, the Ecuadorian Pintado, whom he even left behind in the last metres. 

In her last relay, María Pérez set a great pace to give no options for the Ecuadorian Glenda Morejón and gradually increase her distance until she reached the finish line alone, thus winning a gold medal that has now become Spanish sporting history. Another UCAM athlete, Miguel Ángel López, was part of the other Spanish pair with Cristina Montesinos, finishing in ninth place and just short of a diploma. The silver was for Ecuador and the bronze for Australia. 

UCAM President María Dolores García, congratulated José Antonio Carrillo, coach of UCAM Athleo Cieza and coach of Álvaro Martín and Miguel Ángel López.

UCAM CIARD collaborates with the Spanish team

The role of the UCAM Research Centre for High Performance Sport has been key to achieve this milestone, thanks to its collaboration with the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation in the preparation of this event. This has been essential to determine how to deal with the rest periods between the relays. In the last competitions several tests were carried out to decide the strategy of this race. 

Second medal and eleven UCAM athletes with diplomas

María Pérez has the only two medals for UCAM Athletes so far:

Gold medal: María Pérez (athletics – race walk relay mixed)

Silver medal: María Pérez (athletics – race walk)

Diplomas: Carolina Marín (badminton); Lola Riera, Coti Amundson and Patricia Álvarez (hockey); Mar Molné and Fátima Gálvez (Olympic shooting); María Xiao (table tennis); Elia Canales (archery); Hugo González de Oliveira (swimming – 100 and 200 backstroke); José Quiles (boxing); and Ray Zapata (gymnastics).