May Games win historic Pan American Games medal, but U.S. misses out on Olympic berth
SANTIAGO: Bill May on Friday became the first man to win a medal in artistic swimming at the Pan American Games, but the 44-year-old American pioneer will have to wait a little longer to see if he can make the same history at the Pan American Games. Paris Olympic Games.
While only the winner of the team gold medal earned a quota spot for the Paris Games, the United States narrowly fell short and Mexico took the top spot on the podium with a cumulative score of 786, 2546 (combining scores for technical, free and acrobatic swims). , just 0.6638 ahead of the Americans.
May and her American teammates will now pin their Olympic hopes on next year’s world championships in Doha, where they can secure a quota spot by finishing in the top five.
“I’m incredibly proud. There’s no doubt this will make us stronger. We’ll be in Doha and we’ll be at the 2024 Olympics,” said U.S. coach Andrea Fuentes.
Mexico also played a spoiler role in the women’s soccer gold medal match, beating Chile 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal from Rebeca Bernal.
It was a brave effort from the hosts who were forced to play the final without first-choice goalkeeper Christiane Endler and substitute Antonia Canales, who had to return to their club teams in Europe because the championship match was played outside the international window.
Forward Maria Jose Urrutia stepped in to take over goalkeeping duties for Chile and played courageously, but was unable to collect her glove on Bernal’s 30th-minute free kick that flew into the top right corner.
Argentina further disappointed its host nation by winning the men’s field hockey gold medal 3-1.
On the penultimate day of athletics, eight gold medals were up for grabs, with Brazil and Cuba each taking home two. But it was Venezuela’s Joselyn Brea who took center stage by adding gold in the women’s 1,500 meters to the 5,000m she had won earlier.
Canada got off to a golden start to the day by winning the first three canoe sprint events: Michelle Russell in the women’s K1 500m), Ian Gaudet and Simon McTavish in the men’s K2 500m and Alix Plomteux and Craig Spence in the men’s C2 500m .
The other gold medals went to Mexico in the women’s K4 500m and to Cuba’s Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys in the women’s C1 200m.
Canada and the United States battled it out for the fencing medals, with the Americans getting the better of their North American neighbors in both events, winning gold in the men’s foil and women’s sabre.
Brazilian Stephan de Freitas Barcha won the final round of the equestrian competition, taking gold in the individual show jumping, but accepted his medal in an empty stadium as Canada lodged a protest over who won bronze .
After the competition, Canada argued that an error in judgment had denied Amy Millar a place on the podium.
Millar, the daughter of 10-time Canadian Olympian Ian Millar, appeared to have won the bronze medal after what appeared to be a flawless race, but was later judged to have cleared a barrier, finishing sixth.
After more than two hours of deliberation, the judges ruled that Millar had dislodged a fence and that the podium would remain unchanged with Barcha winning ahead of Americans Kent Farrington and McLain Ward.
Brazil won all three gold medals on offer in rhythmic gymnastics by winning all five hoops, Maria Alexandre in the individual hoop and Barbara Domingos in the individual ball.
Two days before the end of the competition, the United States reached the mark of 100 gold medals and 234 medals in total on Friday.
Brazil is in second place with 56 gold medals and 165 total, followed by Mexico (42/113) and Canada (40/139).
