Gold-medal hockey player Luisa Wilson.Hockey player Luisa Wilson made history on Wednesday when she became the first Mexican athlete to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics tournament.
Wilson won the medal in the three-on-three women’s ice hockey event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Each team was comprised of players from several countries. Wilson shares the gold with athletes from Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Austria.
Her Yellow Team won out in the final over the Black Team 6-1 in a three-game match.
“Having a gold medal around my neck is an incredible sensation and great for Mexico, but it’s a victory for a team from many nations and I love that,” said Wilson after the win.
Although the team lost two of its preliminary games, Wilson and her teammates had the drive to make it to the finals.
“We had lost two games before, but we made it to the semifinals because we had a lot of points and in the semis we tried our best and made it to the finals,” she said.
Wilson, who lives in Canada, says she chose the sport because her father also played it and she learned to love and play ice hockey from a young age, as well.
The head of the Mexican delegation, Carlos Pruneda, said the Mexican Olympic Committee is very happy with the country’s first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal.
“We’re very happy that Luisa Wilson won the gold medal with the Yellow Team, while Ximena González, with the Brown Team, ended up in fourth place,” he said.
Pruneda said that although the youth competition has a different format from the official Winter Games and the Olympic anthem — rather than that of Mexico — was played at the awards ceremony, it was still an historic achievement for the country.
Mexican athletes have competed in all three Youth Winter Olympics, which began in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012.
Sources: Infobae (sp), El Financiero (sp)
