Culture of Mexico - Sport

Sport

Main article: Sport in Mexico

The traditional national sport of Mexico is Charreria, which consists of a series of equestrian events. The national horse of Mexico, used in Charreria, is the Azteca. Bullfighting, a tradition brought from Spain, is also popular. Mexico has the largest venue for bullfighting in the world - The Plaza de toros in Mexico City which seats 48,000 people.

Football is the most popular team sport in Mexico. Most states have their own representative football teams. Among the country's significant teams include Chivas de Guadalajara, Club América, Cruz Azul, and Pumas de la UNAM. Notable players include Hugo Sánchez, Claudio Suárez, Luis Hernández, Francisco Palencia, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Memo Ochoa, Jared Borgetti, Rafael Márquez, Pável Pardo, Ramón Ramírez, Jorge Campos, Javier Hernandez, and Oswaldo Sánchez.

Mexico is also known for its boxing tradition, having produced world champions such as Julio César Chávez, Salvador Sánchez, José Nápoles, Ricardo Lopez, Rubén Olivares, Carlos Zarate, Érik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Sugar Ramos, and Juan Manuel Márquez. Other popular recreational activities include lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling), baseball, fishing, scuba diving, Jai alai, and basketball.

The country hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1968 and the FIFA World Cup in 1970 and 1986, and was the first country to host the FIFA World Cup twice.

Read more about this topic:  Culture Of Mexico

Famous quotes containing the word sport:

    “Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain,
    Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
    Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
    And parting summer’s lingering blooms delayed,
    Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
    Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
    How often have I loitered o’er the green,
    Where humble happiness endeared each scene.”
    —Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)

    “Drag racing is a sport of egos, and it’s all male egos.”
    —Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney (b. 1940)

    “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.
    ”
    —George Orwell (1903–1950)