Mexico's Olympic Committee (COM) told media on Thursday that it was sponsoring 15 athletes who are preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, twice the number of sponsorships ahead of the 2004 Athens Games.
COM chief, Felipe Munoz, said that starting in September, the athletes would receive 415 U.S. dollars each, every month, for two years, or 150,000 dollars in total. He said the athletes should feel proud to be part of the Olympic solidarity program, which identified their chance of playing a good role.
Among the notable athletes is Noe Hernandez, silver-medal winner in the 20km walk, and other speedwalkers like 50km walker Omar Cepeda and 20km walker Eder Sanchez.
Mexicans lost their 20-year-strong dominance of the 20 and 50km speedwalk in July's Central American and Caribbean Games, held in the Colombian city of Cartagena.
Other athletes supported by the program were boxer Jose Arturo Santos; javelinists Rommel Pacheco, Jashia Luna, Paola Espinosa and Laura Sanchez; runners Juan Luis Barrios and Juan Pedro Toledo; triathletes Eligio Cervantes, Arturo Garza and Javier Rosas; cyclist Nancy Contreras; and archer Juan Rene Serrano.
