Pirate assistant joins Team Mexico for 2016 Summer Olympics
COSTA MESA -- Orange Coast College women's volleyball assistant coach Adrian Delgado will take part in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as an assistant coach for the Mexican National Men's Volleyball Team. Delgado and the rest of the Olympians will take part in the Opening Ceremonies on Aug. 5 before Mexico takes on host Brazil on Aug. 7 in the opening round of pool play.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event and I can't wait to be a part of it," Delgado said. "This is the first time that Mexico has ever played its way into the Olympics. I never dreamed that we would make it all the way to the Olympics, but now, we are going."
It's just the second time in the country's history that Mexico will compete in Olympic competition. In 1968, Mexico City hosted the Olympics and Mexico was an automatic qualifier. This year, they hosted a World Olympic Qualification Tournament and topped a field that consisted of Chile, Tunisia and Algeria to advance.
In the opening match of the qualifier, Mexico topped Chile in four sets and swept past Algeria before hosting Tunisia in the final match. "Once we were able to win our second set in the match, we automatically qualified because of the tiebreaker rules, so winning the match wasn't all that big of a deal," Delgado said. "We finished third at the NORCEA Olympic Qualification Tournament back in January to earn the right to host the World Olympic Qualification Tournament."
Despite being the lowest seed in the Olympics and having to compete in a pool that includes the likes of host Brazil, the United States, France, Canada and Italy, Delgado is looking forward to just taking in the Olympic experience.
"I can't wait for the Opening Ceremonies," Delgado said. "I've watched it on TV my whole life and it's something I've always wanted to be a part of. Hopefully I can bump into some of the players on the U.S. Men's Basketball team or get a picture with (Jamaican sprinter) Usain Bolt.
"We know going in that we have our hands full. Our tallest player is 6-foot-6 and some of these teams average 6-8 or 6-9! We're just super excited to be there and hopefully we can play as well as we possibly can. That's all we can do."
Delgado, whose responsibilities for the Mexican National Team include analyzing and breaking down stats for the players and coaches, will return to OCC following the Olympics and will kick off his 26th season as the Pirates' assistant coach.
