Joel Pacheco: who is he and how he achieved his dream of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics

The marathoner Juan Joel Pacheco of the Mexican athletics team has achieved the fastest time with 2 hours 9 minutes and 45 seconds. For his recognizable effort, love of sport and discipline, he will be one of the athletes who will represent Mexico at the next summer Olympic Games.

Joel Pacheco is originally from Torreón, Coahuila, born on December 11, 1990. He started running since he was a child; his grandfather was the one who induced him into the sport, because he took him to run two or three times a week and one day he decided to sign him up for a race in which he came in fourth place. After realizing that his grandson could do great things within the discipline, he decided to enroll him in an athletic school.

After high school he was offered a scholarship from the University of Oklahoma in the United States and went to study criminology, at the same time he worked as a waiter and did his training.

When he returned to Mexico, he fully devoted himself to what makes him happiest: running. Until 2021 he has accumulated four years training as a high performance athlete. Joel thinks that being an athlete is a blessing, because throughout his sports career he has met countries and good people.

At the end of the Valencia marathon, in Spain, he won the title of the best Latin American in the event.

The athlete has done his training in Mexico City with instructions from his coach Enrique Hernández. His examples to follow in athletics are Salvador Garcia, Dionisio Cerón and Benjamin Paredes.

On his way he has had to face a lack of financial support as an athlete and he has managed with a lot of effort to solve the large expenses that are required as a high performance athlete.

His first official marathon was held in Mexico City, finishing sixth with a time of 2 hours and 18 minutes. The athlete has said that when participating in a marathon you must have a lot of strength both physically and mentally, since the journeys are long.

At the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru in 2019, he returned to his home country with a bronze medal. He plans to repeat this feat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

In an interview with the Mexican Olympic Committee (COM), he said that the most difficult thing has been the fact of separating himself from his family, because he has been living alone for 12 years, but at the same time, that has helped him to consolidate and mature in his sports career. He has also missed out on activities to fight for his goal in sport:

“Like every human being, we want to walk on the street or go out a little more and that diminishes when it comes to training and also when it comes to competing”

After having qualified for the Olympics, his main goal in the top sports event is to make history and put Mexico's name on the podium. He is one of the favorites of athletics in Mexico to win a medal in Tokyo, due to his great career that has been the result of hard training, passion and determination to fulfill his ultimate dream: standing out at the Olympic Games.

“I am very excited, first because I already have the Olympic brand. Second because we have been working hard this year, from Houston that I gave the brand, to the bronze medal I won at the Pan American Games.” With the qualification I gave for the next marathon in March, it gives me all that confidence to be able to ratify what would become the Olympic brand.

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