In the 120-year history of diving at the Olympic Games, Mexico has only earned one gold medal.  Last summer in Paris, Juan Manuel and Osmar nearly won the nation’s second. Instead, they took silver by a tiny margin.

It’s hard to believe that they had just teamed up a few months earlier.

Juan Manuel knew he wouldn’t be diving in Paris with his 2021 Tokyo Olympic partner, Yahel Castillo even though they had been 2019 World Championship bronze medalists and placed fourth in Tokyo together. By 2024, Juan Manuel just assumed he’d compete in 3m synchro with Rodrigo Diego Lopez.

“Surprise, surprise. It didn't happen,” Juan Manuel says now. “I guess it was meant to be.”

At some point, Lopez moved on to compete with Osmar, but after the pair’s dismal ninth-place showing at the Berlin World Cup in late March of 2024, their coach Ma Jin decided to let Juan Manuel dive with Osmar.  

It was smart, because less than one month later, the new duo finished second at the 2024 Super Final in Xi’an China.

Still, there was no guarantee that they’d be partners in Paris. To determine who would dive with whom in men’s 3m synchro at the Games, Mexico held a trial one month before Paris.

“We had to compete 24 times – the whole list – and figure out who was best suited for the event,” he said.

The two men were nearly the same height (168 and 170 cm) and weighed nearly the same (69 kg), but the two men had different hurdles back then.

Osmar jumped up slightly earlier than Juan Manuel while Juan Manuel would take an extra step to gain power to propel himself to the same height on takeoff.

They found subtle ways to compensate for that and earned the right to represent Mexico in men’s 3m synchro in Paris – but China’s  Long Daoyi and Wang Zongyuan won Olympic gold by a whisper (2.07 points).

This spring, however – with newly matching hurdles – Juan Manuel and Osmar finally found gold at the 2025 World Cup in Guadalajara – a full 17.07 points ahead of a new pair from China.

A week later, Juan Manuel answered some less-technical questions to help fans get to know him better.

After you and Osmar won 3m synchro Guadalajara, what did the Chinese pair say to you? 

“Nothing. Out of respect, we kind of say, ‘Good luck,’ to each other beforehand, but after that, there's still a language barrier so…”

Why the name Juan Manuel?

“Well, I was going to be named ‘Orlando,’ like Florida, but at the very last moment, my dad went to my mom and said, ‘Can he be named Juan Manuel, like me?’  She agreed. At home, my nickname is Meme (pronounced “MEH-may”). I'm Meme the third, actually. It comes from Manuel.  My grandfather, my dad, and myself are all Juan Manuel.”

Secret talent?

“Very few people know that I used to draw. I would draw animals, realistic stuff. It’s been a while, but I still have my drawings and supplies.”

Remember your first perfect 10?

“It was in Montreal, at a CAMO invitational. The dive was a 405 on a 5-meter board and I was maybe 12 years old. The guy that gave it to me was Arturo Miranda, the coach of Spain now. He used to coach Canada also.” [The Cuban-born Miranda also competed for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he placed fifth in 3m synchro with Alexandre Despatie. Miranda and Despatie were also the 2007 world championship silver medalists.]

Karaoke or disco?

“Disco. I like to dance. I don't sing.”

Favorite World Aquatics sport besides diving?

“Swimming. When I started competing for LSU (Louisiana State University), I really got into the swim races held before or after our events. We’d have dual meets, so I started to pick up on things. A couple of my teammates used to do a dive relay. We were all right for divers, I guess.”

Favorite swimmer on the world stage?

“Caleb Dressel. I like the tattoos, definitely. But I got to see him swim and break many NCAA records and world records because we were in college at the same time. [Dressel competed for the University of Florida and is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist from the US.] It's always fun to see him. He’s my role model.”

College major?

“I graduated LSU in May 2022 with a major in civil engineering and two minors: transportation engineering and business administration. I wanted to do paleontology when I was a kid because I liked dinosaurs. Then I grew up a bit and changed to marine biology. When I grew up even more, I started thinking about the [potential] income as a biologist or paleontologist [and switched again]. Civil engineering was the only major left to try in which I would make enough money to support a family. Plus, math and science were my forte[s] and my family is full of engineers so it seemed like a good backup plan. Unfortunately for my engineering career, I'm alright at diving so I don't have any work experience yet. Maybe I could start when I'm done with the sport, but we'll see.”

Three most-influential people:

“First, my mom, Liliana Hernandez, because she always wanted excellence for me. She always pushed me to do better at everything. In diving, it’s Osmar and our coach, Ma Jin. Osmar pushes me to my limits every single day in practice. So does Ma Jin.”

Most prized possession?

“I’ve got to say, it’s the Olympic medal, the 2024 silver. Right now it’s in a safe deposit box at a bank in Mexico.”