Mexico at the 2008 Summer Olympics Mexico at the 2008 Summer Olympics Mexico competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The country sent 85 competitors (43 men and 42 women) and participated in 23 sports. Mexico's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony was diver Paola Espinosa. Mexican athletes won two gold medals at the games for the first time since the 1984 Olympics. Mexico sent archers, two men and two women, to the Olympics for the eighth time, and had yet to win an Olympic medal in the sport. Two men received qualifying places in archery, after Luis Velez earned a qualifying spot during the 2007
Mark Spitz top amateur athlete in the United States. Spitz also set a number of world records during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials held in Chicago's Portage Park in 1972. He was nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich (West Germany), Spitz was back to maintain his bid for the six gold medals. He did even better, winning seven Olympic gold medals. Furthermore, Spitz set a new world record in each of the seven events – 100-meter freestyle (51.22), 200-meter freestyle (1:52.78), 100-meter butterfly (54.27), 200-meter butterfly (2:00.70), 4×100-meter freestyle relay (3:26.42), 4×200-meter freestyle relay