Ana Guevara

Ana Guevara
Ana Guevara (front) at the 2007 World ChampionshipsBorn March 4, 1977(1977-03-04) (age 31)
Nogales, Sonora, MexicoOccupation Sprinter

Medal record Women's athletics Olympic GamesSilver 2004 Athens400 m World ChampionshipsGold 2003 Paris400 m Bronze 2001 Edmonton400 m Bronze 2005 Helsinki400 m Pan American GamesGold 1999 400 mGold 2003 400 mGold 2007 400 mSilver 2007 4x400 m

Ana Gabriela Guevara Espinoza (born March 4, 1977, in Nogales, Sonora.) is a now-retired Mexican track and field athlete, specialized in the 400 meters.

Her career began in 1996 carrying out diverse tours, participating in her first international competences. In 1998, she won two silver medals in the Central American and Caribbean Games in the distances of 400 and 800 meters.

Her first major victory was the gold medal in the 400m at the 1999 Pan American Games in Canada. She qualified to the 2000 Sydney Olympics going to the 400m finals, finishing with a reasonable 5th place. After that, she won 28 consecutive international races before a second-place finish in Rome in July 2004. At the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, she won a bronze medal in the 400 meters.

In 2003, she defended her title in the 400m at the 2003 Pan American Games winning the gold medal. On August 27, 2003, in Paris, France, she won the International Association of Athletics Federations' Golden League in the women's 400m. She set her personal record running a 48.89 seconds, that is the 9th fastest time in history. The IAAF also ranked her first in the same event from 2002 to 2004.

Guevara won a silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games in the 400m final, with a time of 49.56 seconds. Once again, at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, she won a bronze medal in the 400 meters. In 2007, for the thirth consecutive time, she won the gold medal in the 400m at the 2007 Pan American Games. However this year, she lead Mexico's 4x400m relay team to a second place finish at same Pan American Games with an incredible anchor.

On January 16 2008 she announced her definitive retirement from all competitions due to conflicts with Mariano Lara, the (nowadays former) president of the Mexican Athletics Federation.No help was received at that time by Carlos Hermosillo, director of the Conade (Comision Nacional de Cultura Fisica y Deporte) who didn't act rapidly and the problem only grew bigger and continued for months. She said finally: "My retirement from sport in Mexico is now definitive, I contemplated the possibility of participating independently at the Olympic Games but my illusion was to participate for my country..." The (failing) system thus became Ana Guevara's worst rival.