Mexico Will Award Every Medalist After Record Central American Games

Mexico City — President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced Wednesday that Mexico will award every medalist from the Central American and Caribbean Games, where the country’s delegation set a record with 407 medals, and that athlete scholarships will increase next year.

The delegation won 167 gold, 125 silver and 115 bronze medals at the games in the Dominican Republic, finishing atop the overall medal table. Sheinbaum welcomed a group of athletes and coaches at her morning press conference, the mañanera, and said all medal-winning performances would be recognized financially rather than only the single best result, as has been the custom in previous editions.

Rommel Pacheco Marrufo, head of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Conade), said the standard incentives are 50,000 pesos for each gold medal, 35,000 pesos for silver and 15,000 pesos for bronze, with variations for team sports and coaches. He cited the case of a Mexican woman who won 11 medals and said all of them would be rewarded.

Pacheco called the performance Mexico’s best in the history of the games and noted that the country is now a three-time Central American champion. “This was not a coincidence,” he said. “Behind each of these medals there were months and years of training, sacrifice, injuries, early mornings, competitions, defeats and victories, and despite all of that, each athlete decided to get up again and again.”

He said more than one billion pesos were allocated to athlete preparation during the first two qualification stages, allowing 698 Mexican athletes to compete. The Mexican Olympic Committee contributed 60 million pesos for travel, uniforms and other expenses.

Pacheco added that 493 Mexican athletes reached the podium and 91 won three or more medals. Women led the delegation’s haul with 198 medals, including 83 golds.

Sheinbaum said Conade’s budget will increase by at least 10 percent and that the agency “will not lack anything” ahead of upcoming competitions. She described sport as a right and a central part of young people’s development, adding that the government is building youth talent pipelines to identify and train future athletes.

Diver Osmar Olvera Ibarra, who also addressed the event, said the results give Mexican athletes hope and motivation as they look toward the 2028 Olympic Games.