Aey Mendez
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Aey Mendez is a Fbreni-born Casaran athlete who competes in the field of athletics.
Mendez was born in a small rural town to an Indigenous Fbreni mother, her Hispanic father having left her mother before her birth. In a country with no government to enforce any kind of law or social policies, little Aey grew up in poverty. She worked in nearby fields and by running small errands from early childhood, earning a few Fbreni pesos to survive on. Mother and daughter grew vegetables in their garden, but barely enough for subsistence. Aey learnt to read thanks to a kindly old neighbour who had developed a fondness for her.
Aey was eleven when her mother fell ill and died. She eventually moved to the coastal city of Uket close by, hoping for better living conditions. There she eked out a difficult survival, accumulating underpaid jobs, and spending almost all her time at work.
She came across an abandoned athletics stadium, and spent much of her free time there, talking to occasional friends but mostly running. "It was my way of relaxing," she would later say. "Of forgetting about everything. Of just concentrating on breathing, my rhythm, keeping it up as long as possible. Then I decided to focus on sprinting, and I got really good at it. I didn't have much free time, but I spent all of it training hard to get better and better. People often came to watch me."
She heard about the Olympics on television, and began dreaming about them. Fbrenia had no Olympic Committee, so she could not hope to be selected to compete for her nation. At the age of nineteen she used her meagre savings to book passage on a foreign ship leaving Uket, and worked menial jobs on board to complement her fare. She eventually ended up in Ariddia, and was permitted to integrate the country's delegation to the first Summer Olympics.
After competing, Mendez submitted a request to remain in Casari - the first ever recorded case of an Olympic athlete defecting to the Games' host nation. Although she expressed gratitude to the Ariddian Olympic Committee and to her fellow Ariddian athletes, Mendez stated that she had left Fbrenia in search of a better life, and that she did not wish to remain in Ariddia, a communist country with a moneyless economy. Having been granted the right to settle in Casari, where she now lives (see photo), Mendez soon found work as a shop assistant, and has said she hopes to represent her new country in future athletics events.
Results in international events
First Summer Olympiad
Representing Ariddia (ARI) and, unofficially, Fbrenia (FBR)
Athletics
- Women's 100m
- Heats: 0:10.55 (18th overall)
- Semi-finals: 0:10.58 (17th overall - did not advance)
- Women's 200m
- Heats: 0:21.40 (5th overall)
- Semi-finals: 0:21.99 (12th overall - did not advance)
- Women's 5000m
- 14:27.06 (19th)
Links
- "Ariddian athlete defects to Casari" : Mendez's "defection" announced by the press
- "Ariddian defector met with open arms by government" : Casari's reaction announced by Casari4Sport
