Jalisco is arguably the most emblematic of all of Mexico’s 32 states. After all, it is the birthplace of mariachi and tequila – two of the country’ best-known contributions to world culture!

What people outside of Mexico’s borders may be less aware of is that Jalisco is also the nation’s most successful sporting state. Athletes from this state have led the medal table in the annual National Olympiad for the past 15 years and a remarkable 98 of the 640 competitors in the 2011 Pan American Games Mexican delegation will be from Jalisco.

On September 23, the Mexican delegation was received by President Felipe Calderon at the Pinos Palace in Mexico City for the traditional pre-games Flag Handover Ceremony.

Accepting the national flag from the president was 26-year-old Juan Rene Serrano, a talented archer who placed fourth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Born and bred in Guadalajara, Serrano will carry the Mexican flag (known as the tricolor) into the Omnilife Stadium during the October 30 opening ceremony. “It’s an honor and something I’ve dreamed of for a long time,” the unassuming and well-spoken athlete told reporters after the ceremony.

Serrano sees Guadalajara 2011 as the first step toward glory in next year’s Olympic Games in London, where he says he hopes to “make history.”

Interviewed after the ceremony, Serrano said Jalisco’s athletes should take full advantage of being on home soil to win a record number of medals.

In the 2007 games in Rio de Janeiro athletes from Jalisco won 15 of Mexico’s 73 medals, although no golds (6 silver and 9 bronze). This time, Pan American Games Organizing Committee Director Carlos Andrade Garin (he’s also the Jalisco Sports Council commissioner) is targeting at least 17 medals for state athletes, including several golds.  Apart from Serrano, hometown gold medal hopefuls include rhythmic gymnast Cynthia Valdez and divers Ivan Garcia and German Sanchez.

Addressing the Mexican Pan American and Parapan delegations on September 23, President Calderon called on athletes to win a host of medals to bring “some joy to our country that has suffered so much from bad people without morals” (a pointed reference to the spate of recent drug-related violence that has plagued some parts of Mexico in the past four years).

Patricia Barcenas, a weightlifter who will represent Mexico in November’s Parapan Games, received the national flag on behalf of the nation’s athletes with disabilities.

Disabled swimmer Juan Ignacio Reyes commended authorities for combining the two ceremonies for the first time, calling it “a demonstration of equality that shows we are all part of one team.”