For the second consecutive year, the Mexican Winter National Swimming Championships have run into a severe problem.
The event, scheduled to be raced outdoors in Veracruz, Mexico, was cancelled for the first two days of competition due to heavy winds. The races scheduled for those days will not be contested, and instead, the Mexican Swimming Federation says the athletes will get their chance to do those events at next year’s Junior Grand Prix.
🚨 C O M U N I C A D O 🚨 pic.twitter.com/9Faj2CztYo
— F.MexicanadeNatacion (@FemexNatacion) December 18, 2019
This meet was originally scheduled to be a qualifier for next year’s National Games. The Junior Grand Prix in 2020 will act as a qualifier for those Games for the events not contested here.
According to reports, many athletes have returned home as it appears likely the event is cancelled altogether.
At last year’s event, over 200 athletes got sick due to chemicals put in the pool in Guadalajara.
Totally cancelled. It is public knowledge that Veracruz is unsuitable during winter. It’s a VERY fast pool, but best if chosen for events during late spring/ early summer.
Unfortunately the Federation is being run as a personal-private enterprise by the current leadership. Corruption has always existed in Mexico, on all fronts, it’s the degree of shamelessness that is on the rise. Ever since this new President (Todorov) stepped in, operations have only gotten worse and we (the aquatic community) see no consequences for their actions. It would be great if FINA could step in n cut these fellas out, for starters.
Veracruz Is a beautiful and excellent venue to host these type of events. We all know that the weather in December is very unpredictable, it has happened before more than once, however we all knew the risk when we decided to attend, the Mexican Federation has provided a solution to the affected swimmers, let’s no do a big fuss about it.
It is absolutely discouraging: all the effort and sacrifices made by coaches and swimmers seem to be completely disregarded by the organizations. There are better places in Mexico to ensure a successful competition, but the authorities are incapable of thinking. Families are also making big efforts to have their swimmers traveling: who is going to take care of all those expenses? How they pretend to be successful internationally if they set themselves for failure? It is really sad to see the young’s dreams of representing Mexico in the world being shattered by corruption and incompetence. #duelesmexico
So there are no indoor pools in the country to utilize…..?
The thing is the director of the federation didn’t want to locate in another safer pool. Current situation sucks for swimming in Mexico, a lot of corruption
Yes, there are several indoor pools that do meet FINA standards, not like Veracruz that doesn’t even have a heater/cooler among many other basic requirements for a National Championship.
“Bad weather” is only a excuse from FMN to cover up all the corruption going on in Mexican swimming, it is a very sad and disappointing reality for all Mexican swimmers.
The Federation knew it was possible for this to happen.
It happen in the 2014 CENTRAL AMERICAN GAMES and the December 2014 Mexican Short Course Nationals.