Aurora Bretón

Gonzala Aurora Bretón Gómez (10 January 1950 – 27 May 2014) was a Mexican archer who represented her country in four Olympic Games (1972, 1984, 1988 and 1992); won two silver and five bronze medals in Pan American Games and eight gold and two silver medals in Central American and Caribbean Games.

After retiring from international competitions, she worked as Olympic coach, briefly served as sports commentator for a television network during the 2012 Summer Olympics

Athletic career

Aurora Bretón was born on 10 January 1950 in Mexico to Amado Enrique Bretón Gómez and Anselma Gómez Jiménez. She trained with fellow Olympian José Almanzor —grandfather of Luis Eduardo Vélez— and won nine national championships in her home country.

Nevertheless, most of her medals were obtained in Central American and Caribbean Games. After winning five consecutive gold medals at the 1986 edition hosted in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, she was awarded the 1986 National Sports Prize of Mexico.

Life after retirement

After retiring from international competitions, Bretón coached Olympic medalists Aída Román and Mariana Avitia and briefly worked as sports commentator for Televisa Deportes during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Controversially, she also served as president of the Mexican Archery Federation (in ), where she was involved in two major scandals that forced her resignation.

In the first incident, the father of an underage female athlete accused her of molesting his daughter on 2 May 2004 during an international competition in France. According to the claimant, the travel expenses of the minor had been paid in advance by a state government, but Bretón booked a single room for both alleging budget cuts and, reportedly, asked an accompanying female athlete (with no prior knowledge of the local language nor acquainted with the city) to search for and bring back something to eat at the hotel while she sexually harassed his daughter.

A year later, in October 2005, Bretón was caught by immigration authorities of the United States while trying to secure travel visas for two deli vendors and a friend of her own daughter by presenting them as official coaches of the Mexican archery team. The United States Embassy in Mexico City intervened and she was charged with visa fraud and banned from visiting the country for ninety-nine years. Following the incident, she was asked to resign from all executive posts in both the federation and the Mexican Sports Confederation (Codeme).

Bretón died at the age of 64 from a chronic degenerative disease on 27 May 2014, at the ISSSTE General Hospital in Tacuba, a northeastern borough of Mexico City. Her remains, however, were moved by her family to the central state of Hidalgo.