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“I lit the hearts of women,” said the Mexican athlete Enriqueta Basilio, remembering the moment she lit the Olympic cauldron, on October 12, 1968 at the Olympic Games held in our country. She was the first woman in history to carry the torch.
The sprinter was born on July 15, 1948 in Mexicali, Baja California, into a large and humble family, which was dedicated to growing cotton. She combined her studies with sports, and her dedication led her to become the 80-meter hurdles champion.
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With these good results, at the age of 20 she received the news that she would be in charge of lighting the torch at the Mexico 68 Olympics. Prior to that, she had participated in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, as well as in a competition in Cuba. .
The preparation process was not easy, because because the torch was designed to be carried by a man, it was too heavy for her, and even caused her injuries during rehearsals.
“I got to the top, turned it on and threw it away. It was burning, my hand was red,” she recalled in an interview given to Gaceta UNAM, in which she also narrated that, finally, a smaller and lighter torch was created so that she could carry it.
AN OLYMPIAD FOR EVERYONE
Days before the inauguration, the student movement of ’68 broke out, putting greater pressure on the Olympic event, turning it into a window for the government to demonstrate that the country was stable.
Enriqueta Baisilio said that some members of the university community were involved in the organization of the Olympic Games, so she and the rest of the athletes made the decision to participate despite the political climate, and highlight Mexican sport.
“I was part of those young people who protested, but I had that opportunity to represent Mexico as an athlete,” he commented in the aforementioned interview with Gaceta UNAM.
When the day of the inauguration arrived, her nerves were on edge, but the presence of her family at the ceremony helped her calm down and tour the University Olympic Stadium without any major problems.
Since the Olympic Committee did not provide him with a uniform, he wore the white shorts that he used for training, and some tennis shoes that he had had since high school. In total there were 92 steps that she climbed to the cauldron, always keeping in mind the commitment she was making with women.
“I did it for justice, for equity, solidarity, equality. We should not allow ourselves to continue falling behind like this in sports. She was very nervous, it was my privilege to represent the Mexican woman and the woman of the world,” she recalled in her conversation with the university publication.
In those Olympics, he competed in the 400 meters, the 4×100 meter relay, and the 80 meter hurdles. Although he did not win any medals, the fact that he lit the cauldron made his participation in Mexico ’68 historic.
INTERRUPTED DREAMS
After passing through this sporting event, he participated in the Central American and Caribbean Games, where he took bronze in the 4×100 meter relay event.
His path in sports no longer continued in the following Summer Olympics (Munich 1972), because due to conflicts with the sports authorities of that time, he could not attend, ending his career.
However, he remained a permanent member of the Mexican Olympic Committee, and in 2004 he returned to carry the torch, as it passed through Mexico, prior to the Athens Olympic Games.
She also had a brief stint in politics, serving as a federal representative of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, in the period 2000-2003. Enriqueta Basilio died on October 26, 2006, due to complications from Parkinson’s that she suffered from.
In 2021, his name appeared in the media again, because the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) named an asteroid in his honor.
A REVIEW OF HIS LIFE
To honor the legacy of Enriqueta Basilio, the OEM presents a virtual exhibition dedicated to the athlete on Google Arts & Culture, which is made up of photographs from the archives of the Esto and La Prensa newspapers, belonging to the Mario Vázquez Photo Library, Newspaper Archive and Library. Frog.
The curatorship was carried out by Jimena Espejo Real, who carried out the research together with the architect Irina Escartín Arciniega and Yolanda Ramos Ortiz, under the coordination of Dr. Mariana Vázquez Ramos.
The exhibition is made up of photographs of the athlete during the lighting of the cauldron, as well as her participation in Mexico 68. It also includes some images of the student mobilizations that took place months before the opening of the Olympics.
These were the first games broadcast in color on television, and in which scientific methods were implemented to measure altitude in athletes, in addition to conducting anti-doping controls.
The logo of that edition is also present in the Google Arts & Culture virtual exhibition, highlighting that its design fuses Huichol art with indigenous and mestizo Mexican roots, with modern art proposals.
Another section of photographs shows the so-called Friendship Route, a corridor of sculptures placed in different parts of the city especially for the occasion, as well as some of the protests that arose within the framework of the competition, such as the “black” sign power” on the podium.
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Finally, a gallery of journalistic notes published during the Mexico 68 Olympic Games in the newspapers of the Mexican Editorial Organization is offered.
2023-09-11 11:58:11
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