Rut Castillo Galindo (born 16 September 1990) is a Mexican individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

. She represented

Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics Mexico competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's twenty-fourth appe ...

and became the first Mexican rhythmic gymnast to compete at an Olympic Games. She is the 2021 Pan American all-around champion. At the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major Americas, continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of ...

, she won the silver medal in hoop and the bronze medals in the all-around and

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

. She is an eight-time

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for 32 countries and ...

champion. She has also competed at nine

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Early life

Castillo was born on 16 September 1990 in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

. She began rhythmic gymnastics when she was six years old. Her brother,

Job Castillo Job Castillo Galindo (born 1 November 1992) is a Mexican badminton player. He won the men's doubles title at the 2022 Pan Am Championships partnering Luis Montoya. He also claimed two bronze medals at the Pan American Games, in 2015 with Lino ...

, plays badminton internationally for Mexico, and her sister, Sara Castillo, is a badminton coach.

Career

2005–2009

At the 2005 Pan American Championships, Castillo won the bronze medal in the team event. Then at the

2006 Central American and Caribbean Games The 20th edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games was held in the city of Cartagena, Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, in ...

, she won the gold medal in the team event. Individually, she won the silver medals in the all-around and the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

, both behind

Cynthia Valdez Cynthia Yazmín Valdez Pérez (born December 11, 1987) is an individual Mexican rhythmic gymnast born in Guadalajara who has won 10 Pan American Games medals—two gold, four silver and four bronze medals. Career She won a bronze medal in t ...

, and the bronze medal in the

rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

. Then at the

, she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Lisa Wang and Valdez. In the event finals, she won the silver medal in the hoop behind

Alexandra Orlando Alexandra Michel Orlando (born January 19, 1987) is a retired Canadian rhythmic gymnast. She represented Canada at the 2008 Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games. Biography Orlando was born in Toronto, Ontario and attend ...

, and she won the bronze medal in clubs behind Orlando and Wang. She competed at her first

, finished 60th in the all-around during the qualification round. She also competed in the group event, replacing one of the Mexican gymnasts who got injured at the last minute. At her second World Championships in

, she placed 63rd in the all-around and helped the Mexican team in 28th.

2010

Castillo won the all-around gold medal at the

2010 Central American and Caribbean Games The 21st Central American and Caribbean Games (Spanish: ''XXI Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Mayagüez 2010'') took place in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, from 18 July 2010 to 1 August 2010. Bid It was understood that Mayagüez was going to b ...

. She also won the gold medal in the

Ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

, and she won the silver medals in the ball, hoop, and rope. Then at the 2010 World Championships, she finished 38th in the all-around, and Mexico finished 18th in the team competition. In December 2010, she won three medals at the 2010 Pan American Championships, team gold, hoop gold, and rope silver. However, she tested positive for

Sibutramine Sibutramine, formerly sold under the brand name Meridia among others, is an appetite suppressant which has been discontinued in many countries. It works as a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) similar to certain antidepressant ...

, and in March 2011, she received a six-month suspension and was stripped of her medals.

2011–2014

Castillo returned to competition at the 2011 World Championships where she finished 71st in the all-around and 17th with the Mexican team. Then at the 2013 World Championships, she finished 44th in the all-around. She began the 2014 season at the Pan American Championships where she won the team bronze medal. Then at the 2014 World Championships, she finished 50th in the all-around and 17th in the team competition. At the

2014 Central American and Caribbean Games The 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games were held November 14–30, 2014 in Veracruz, Mexico.Sport page< ...

, she won gold medals in the ball and hoop and the silver medals in the all-around and hoop, both behind

2015–2017

Castillo was selected to represent

Mexico at the 2015 Pan American Games Mexico competed in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from July 10 to 26, 2015. Racquetball Paola Longoria was the flagbearer of the team during the opening ceremony. Competitors The following table lists Mexico's delegatio ...

where she finished seventh in the all-around and qualified for all four event finals. She finished fifth in the ball final, fourth in the clubs final, and sixth in the hoop final and the ribbon final. Then at the 2015 World Championships, she finished 57th in the individual all-around and 19th with the Mexican team. This result was not high enough for Castillo to qualify a spot for the 2016 Olympic Games. She then represented Mexico at the 2017 Summer Universiade and finished ninth in the all-around final. She also qualified for the hoop and the clubs finals where she finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

2018–2019

Castillo began the 2018 season at

where she won her second all-around title. She also won the gold medal in the clubs and ribbon, and she won the silver medal in the hoop behind teammate Marina Malpica. The gold medal that she won in the clubs final was Mexico's 100th gold medal at the

. She then competed at the 2018 World Championships where she finished 31st in the all-around and 18th with the Mexican team. Then at the 2018 Pan American Championships in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, she helped the Mexican team win the silver medal behind the United States, and she won the bronze medal in the ball behind Americans Laura Zeng and Nastasya Generalova. She represented Mexico at the 2019 Pan American Games, finishing tenth in the all-around and seventh in the ribbon final. She then competed at the 2019 World Championships in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and finished 50th in the all-around and 25th with the Mexican team.

2021

At the 2021 Pan American Championships in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Castillo helped the Mexican team win the silver medal behind Brazil. She then won the gold medal in the all-around ahead of

Bárbara Domingos Bárbara de Kassia Godoy Domingos (born 2 March 2000) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2023 Pan American Championships all-around champion, the 2023 Thiais Grand Prix ribbon gold medalist, and the first Brazilian rhythmic gy ...

and

Natália Gaudio Natália Azevedo Gaudio (born 18 December 1992) is a Brazilian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2018 South American Games, 2018 South American Games all-around gold medalist, and the Gymnastics at the 2019 Pan American Ga ...

and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games. She became the first Mexican rhythmic gymnast to qualify for an Olympic Games. At the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, Castillo finished 22nd in the qualification round for the individual all-around.

Personal life

Castillo is openly lesbian. She was one of the two openly LGBTQ+ athletes representing

, and she was the only openly LGBTQ+ rhythmic gymnast at the 2020 Olympics.

References

External links

* * * https://living.alot.com/entertainment/meet-the-lgbtq-athletes-competing-at-the-olympics--19225 {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Rut 1990 births Living people Mexican rhythmic gymnasts Doping cases in gymnastics Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in gymnastics Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Gymnasts at the 2007 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2015 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics LGBTQ gymnasts Mexican lesbian sportswomen Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games silver medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games bronze medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Olympic gymnasts for Mexico Sportspeople from Guadalajara, Jalisco Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Pan American Championships 21st-century Mexican sportswomen