11 Facts About Enriqueta Basilio

Norma Enriqueta "Queta" Basilio Sotelo was a Mexican track and field athlete.

Enriqueta Basilio was born in Mexicali, capital of Baja California.

Enriqueta Basilio came from an athletic family; her father was a cotton farmer.

Enriqueta Basilio made history by becoming the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron.

Enriqueta Basilio was the last torch-bearer of the 19th Summer Olympics in Mexico City on 12 October 1968.

Enriqueta Basilio was a national athletics champion and record-holder in 80 metres hurdles and finished seventh in this event at the 1967 Pan American Games.

Enriqueta Basilio married the basketball player Mario Alvarez, who was later secretary to the Oaxaca state governor.

Enriqueta Basilio was widowed with three young children when he died in an aeroplane accident.

Enriqueta Basilio studied sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and became a federal deputy for the Institutional Revolutionary Party during the LVIII Legislature of the Mexican Congress.

Enriqueta Basilio became a permanent member of the Mexico Olympic Committee and was part of the 2004 Olympic torch relay when it was passing through Mexico City.

Enriqueta Basilio died of pneumonia on 26 October 2019, aged 71.