The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have come to an end for the athletes of the Universidad Católica de Murcia, who once again proved to be among the elite of the greatest sporting competition. Eight of them have won medals and twenty-two have taken home one or more diplomas. These victories are evidence of the great work done by the UCAM – COE alliance, forged in 2012 by José Luis Mendoza and Alejandro Blanco, which has continued with María Dolores García at the head of the University. The project, which already reaped many successes in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, has demonstrated its momentum in Paris 2024 and is already looking towards the future with the new goal in mind: Los Angeles 2028.

The first medal was in race walking, with María Pérez crossing the finish line second in the 20km walk and taking silver, the first Olympic medal of her career. The Granada-born athlete was in the running for a medal after winning two world titles in 2023. She had to undergo surgery before the Olympic Games and showed impeccable recovery work and great mental strength when it came to managing the pressure of being one of the favourites.

So much so that she won the second medal but this time by climbing onto the highest step of the podium. María Pérez won the Olympic gold medal in the mixed relay together with Álvaro Martín, protégé of the UCAM Athleo Cieza's president and coach, José Antonio Carrillo, another of the winners of these Games who comes back to the Region of Murcia with a gold and a bronze medal obtained by his walker. María Pérez's face was filled with excitement and euphoria just after crossing the finish line, as she embraced her teammate, producing an image in Paris that will go down in the history of Spanish sport.

The Spanish K4 500m canoeing team, made up entirely of UCAM paddlers, won the bronze medal in a hard-fought race. Saúl Craviotto, Marcus Cooper, Rodrigo Germade and Carlos Arévalo were determined to fight for everything and remained at the front of the race for more than half of the course. Finally, they won a bronze that extends the legend of Saúl Craviotto, who is now the single greatest Olympic medallist in the history of Spain, surpassing David Cal with six medals won.

The fourth medal of the UCAM athletes came in women's water polo. Bea Ortiz, a student of the UCAM Master's Degree in Communication Management, and Nona Pérez, a student of the UCAM Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, marked their way to the gold medal. The team managed to beat the all-powerful United States in the group stage, from which they emerged undefeated, and reached the final against Australia. In the final, Bea Ortiz was decisive with four goals, being the top scorer of the Spanish team, and Nona Pérez stood out for her defensive actions in key moments of the match. The Spanish female water polo team finally won the title of Olympic champions after coming close with silver medals in London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

Yet another historic moment was the silver medal won by Marbella boxer Ayoub Ghadfa in the highest category (+92 kg). The student of the UCAM Master's Degree in High Performance Sport was not one of the great medal favourites, but he displayed his great competitive skills and excellent form. In the duel for the gold medal, he ended up losing to the reigning Olympic and world champion Bahodir Jalolov, winning the third Olympic silver medal in the history of Spanish boxing and the first in the highest weight category.

Twenty-two UCAM athletes win diplomas

In these Olympic Games there have been diplomas that will go down in history, although not all of them were pretty. The most bitter side of sport was seen in the fourth place finish of Carolina Marín, who suffered a knee injury when she was winning her semi-final, leaving her without a chance of a medal. The player from Huelva was at her best after suffering two knee injuries. Paris gave her a standing ovation in one of the toughest moments of her sporting career.

There were more outstanding diplomas with Quique Llopis in the 110m hurdles final. The athlete from Gandía came close to bronze in a memorable performance in which he took fourth place. Then Antía Jácome, who had just finished runner-up in the world championships in C1 200m and C2 500m, finished fourth and sixth respectively in those categories. And Mar Molné, only 22 years old, was fourth in the Olympic shooting pit final with Fátima Gálvez being her main pursuer in fifth place.

Other diplomas came from Olympic champion Marcus Cooper and young Adrián del Río in canoeing (K2 500m), Eva Navarro from Yecla (football), Laura Gil from Murcia (basketball), Olympic runner-up Ray Zapata (artistic gymnastics), two diplomas from swimmer Hugo González (100m and 200m backstroke), María Xiao (table tennis), José Quiles (boxing), Adrián Vicente and Javier Pérez Polo (taekwondo), Elia Canales (archery), canoeists Sara Ouzande and Teresa Portela, who was competing in her seventh Olympic Games, Álvaro Granados (water polo) and Lola Riera, Coti Amundson and Patricia Álvarez (hockey).

UCAM flag bearers

Added to the successes achieved in this edition, three of the four Spaniards chosen as flag bearers are linked to UCAM: Marcus Cooper and Támara Echegoyen in the opening ceremony and double medallist María Pérez in the closing ceremony, sharing the honour with Olympic champion Jordan Díaz.

Now it's the turn of the Paralympics

Paris 2024 does not end here, as the Paralympic Games will take place from 28 August to 8 September, with the participation of fifteen UCAM athletes.

The main focus will be on wheelchair basketball. Sonia Ruiz, Bea Zudaire, Vicky Vilariño and Lourdes Ortega will be in the Spanish women's team, along with Pablo Zarzuela and Lalo Prieto in the men's team. In addition, two international wheelchair basketball players, Lee Fryer with Great Britain and Luigi Makambo with France, are UCAM Murcia BSR players. In swimming there will be eight-time Paralympic medallist Sarai Gascón, as well as Íñigo Llopis and Nahia Zudaire. Sara Andrés and Adiaratou Iglesias will participate in athletics; and Sergio Garrote in cycling.

In addition, Franck Belén as coach and Marta Vargas as physiotherapist, both members of the UCAM Murcia BSR club, will be part of the coaching staff of the women's wheelchair basketball team.