Capturing
the Mexican spirit
Mexico’s men’s single
sculler Patrick Loliger Salas
at the 2011 Samsung World
Rowing Cup in Hamburg,
Germany.
Mexico City has a population of 21 million people. Before the 2008 Olympic Games a huge
billboard was erected on one of the busiest highways featuring Patrick Loliger Salas. A lot of
people saw it. Loliger is Mexico’s best single sculler and has been for the last 10 years.
“I was standing there in a World Cup tee-shirt,” says
Loliger. “It said, ‘Our student from International
Business is going to the Olympics. We are proud.’
It was weird for me to see myself every day on
the poster.”
Football reigns supreme in Mexico so for a rower
to get this kind of exposure is unusual. But
Loliger sees it as part of the growth of rowing
in his country. Says Loliger: “People confuse
rowing with canoeing all of the time, but rowing
is growing in Mexico. I think this is because of
the 2007 Pan American Games when Analicia
[Ramirez] won silver in the lightweight double.
Then when I got to the Beijing Olympics it helped
a lot because I was on TV and in magazines.”
Like the majority of Mexican boys, Loliger’s
sporting life began with football. His football club,
Club Espana, Loliger says proudly, is one of the
best football clubs in Mexico. It is also one of the
best rowing clubs. In Mexico it is not uncommon
for football clubs to be united with full sporting
facilities including other sports. This makes rowing
visible to the large number of club members.
“Quite a few try rowing,” says Loliger, “but most
of them quit because it’s too hard physically. In
football you only train three times a week. For
rowing I have trained daily since I was 13 years
old.” Loliger says he was small as a kid. He saw
pictures of rowers and wanted to look like them.
“I really admire Derek Porter and Rob Waddell.”
Loliger is part of a small but growing number of
Mexicans who have been exposed to rowing and
chosen it as their sport.
At his first junior national championships Loliger won
the single, double and quadruple sculls. “So I thought
that I could be good at rowing,” he says modestly. By
the age of 18 rowing was his sole sport. >
© 2011 Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images
Issue 17 – August 2011
