TOKYO — After winning bronze in one of the new Olympic events at the Tokyo Games, Alejandra Valencia of Mexico recalled the moment when her partner nearly blew it.
“I just said, ‘It’s OK, you know how to do this!’” she recalled. “And I gave him a little punch.”
Valencia’s partner, Luis Alvarez, had misfired with his first arrow of the second set in mixed team archery. But buoyed in part by Valencia’s pep talk, Alvarez refocused as the Mexicans defeated a two-person team from Turkey and made the medal podium — together.
In Tokyo, more men and women than ever before are teaming up to compete in a series of mixed-gender events that are making their Olympic debuts: relays in track and swimming, mixed pistol and rifle competitions on the shooting range, mixed judo and mixed table tennis.