Paola Pliego

María Paola Pliego Lara, known as Paola Pliego (born September 27, 1994 in Mexico City, México), is a Mexican-born naturalized Uzbekistani sabre fencer, bronze medallist at the 2015 Pan American Fencing Championships. Citing corruption of the Mexican Olympic Committee (mainly, Carlos Padilla Becerra, its president[1]) as the main reason, she competed under the flag of Uzbekistan at the 2019 Fencing World Cup.[2] [3]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pliego and the second or maternal family name is Lara.
Paola Pliego
Portrait of Paola Pliego
Personal information
Full nameMaría Paola Pliego Lara
Born (1994-09-27) 27 September 1994
Mexico City, Mexico
Height1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight60 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Country Mexico (2009-19)
 Uzbekistan (2019-present)
SportFencing
Weaponsabre
Handright-handed
FIE rankingcurrent ranking
Medal record
Women's sabre
Representing  Mexico
Pan American Championships
Silver medal – second place2015 SantiagoTeam
Bronze medal – third place2015 SantiagoIndividual
Silver medal – second place2016 PanamaTeam
Bronze medal – third place2016 PanamaIndividual
Gold medal – first place2017 MontrealIndividual
Gold medal – first place2017 MontrealTeam
Women's sabre
Representing  Uzbekistan
Islamic Solidarity Games
Silver medal – second place2021 KonyaTeam
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place2022 HangzhouTeam

Career

Pliego became interested in fencing at the age of four after watching a fencing scene in The Parent Trap.[4] She was too small to train at the time, but persisted in her interest and eventually took courses with her sister. She started to compete when she was a teenager. After she earned her first medals at the Mexican national championships, she trained at the Oregon Fencing Alliance, alongside twice-Olympic champion Mariel Zagunis.[5]

With 150 points Pliego in 2013-2014 season ends as number 1 seeded of FIE's junior women saber ranking [6]

Pliego won the 2013–14 Fencing World Cup in the junior category. In the 2014–15 season, she ranked second at the Cancún satellite tournament. She won a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Championships in Santiago after losing 10–15 in the semifinals to USA's Dagmara Wozniak.[7] She went on to take the silver medal with the team.

In 2016, she wrongfully tested positive for forbidden substances days before the Rio 2016 Olympics, which ended her Olympic dream. She was cleared of any wrongdoing shortly after.

She overcame these circumstances and in 2017, she also won the Panamerican Individual Championship for the first time ever for a Mexican Sabre Fencer.

Even with these results she was never called up to represent Mexico on international events ever again.

In 2019, she announced she would compete under the flag of Uzbekistan at the 2019 Fencing World Cup, citing corruption of the Mexican Olympic Committee as the main reason for this decision.[2]

In April 2020, a tribunal forced the Sports Commission (CONADE) to compensate Paola with 15 million pesos (750,000 USD), for the damages caused to her career.[8]

References
  1. Paola Pliego reveals the name of the culprit (in Spanish) (Retrieved July 4, 2019)
  2. "La esgrimista Paola Pliego renuncia a representar a México y competirá por Uzbekistán".
  3. "INTERNATIONAL FENCING FEDERATION - the International Fencing Federation official website".
  4. "Paola Pliego y la esgrima". ESPN Deportes (in Spanish). 16 May 2013.
  5. "La queretana Paola Pliego, en la cima del esgrima". El Economista (in Spanish). 5 February 2014.
  6. "Ranking - Result & Statistic - FIE - International Fencing Federation".
  7. María Vega (19 April 2015). "Paola Pliego, bronce en el Panamericano de Chile". Esto.
  8. "Conade debe pagar 15 millones de pesos a Paola Pliego; sentencia Tribunal Superior". Periódico AM (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-04-27.
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