Alexa Moreno

Alexa Citlali Moreno Medina (born 8 August 1994) is a Mexican artistic gymnast. She is the 2018 World bronze medalist on vault, the first Mexican female gymnast to medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She represented Mexico at the 2016 Summer Olympics where she was the second reserve for the all-around final and at the 2020 Olympics where she placed fourth in the vault final. She will represent Mexico at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the 2023 Pan American champion on vault. She won a silver medal on vault at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games and a bronze medal on vault at the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships. She is also a seven-time medalist on the FIG World Cup circuit. She is the 2011 Pan American Games and 2014 and 2018 Pan American Championships team bronze medalist and the 2010, 2014, and 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games team gold medalist.

Career
Moreno began gymnastics when she was three years old.

2010—2013: Early senior career
Moreno won the bronze medal on the vault at the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships behind Dominique Pegg and Emily Little. Then at the Central American and Caribbean Games, she won the team gold medal and also won the vault silver medal behind teammate Elsa García. The Mexican team finished twenty-first during the qualification round for the 2010 World Championships.

Moreno did not compete at the 2011 Pan American Games due to a meniscus injury the day before the competition began, but she still received the bronze medal the Mexican team won. Then at the World Championships, the Mexican team finished seventeenth in the qualification round, and Moreno qualified for the vault final where she finished seventh.

At the 2012 Zibo World Challenge Cup, Moreno won the silver medal on the vault behind Cheng Fei. Then at the Ghent World Challenge Cup, she won her first FIG World Cup gold medal on the vault.

Moreno finished fourth with the Mexican team at the 2013 Universiade, and she placed fifth in the vault final.

2014—2017: First Olympics
Moreno won a bronze medal with the Mexican team at the 2014 Pan American Championships. She also placed sixth in the all-around, seventh in the vault, and fifth in the uneven bars. At the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China, she helped the Mexican team place fourteenth with qualified the team for the 2015 World Championships. She qualified for the vault final and placed seventh. Then at the Central American and Caribbean Games, she won the gold medal with the Mexican team and also placed ninth in the all-around and eighth in the uneven bars.

Moreno won the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2015 Mexican Championships. She also won the all-around bronze medal at the Olimpiada Nacional. Then at the Anadia World Challenge Cup, she won the silver medal on the vault behind Marcia Videaux. She missed the 2015 Pan American Games due to a broken cheekbone. She returned to competition at the World Championships and finished seventh in the vault final. After the World Championships, she finished seventh in the all-around at the Arthur Gander Memorial. Then at the Swiss Cup, she competed on a mixed-team with Daniel Corral, and they finished eighth.

Moreno qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Test Event where she finished twenty-second in the all-around. She then won the silver medal on the vault at the Anadia World Challenge Cup behind Marcia Videaux. She represented Mexico at the 2016 Summer Olympics and finished thirty-first in the all-around during the qualification round, making her the second reserve for the all-around final.

Moreno did not compete in 2017 to focus on her studies.

2018—2021: World medalist and second Olympics
Moreno won the all-around bronze medal at the 2018 Mexican Championships and won the vault title. Then at the Mexican Trial Meet, she won the silver medal in the all-around behind Frida Esparza. She won the team bronze medal at the Pan American Championships and also placed fourth in the all-around. She won the vault bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in Doha behind Simone Biles and Shallon Olsen and became the first Mexican female gymnast to win a medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She was only the second Mexican gymnast to win a World medal after Daniel Corral won a silver medal on the pommel horse in 2013. After the World Championships, she competed at the Cottbus World Cup and finished fourth on the vault. Additionally, the Mexican team placed nineteenth in the qualification round. She then competed at the Toyota International and won the gold medal on the vault and placed eighth on the floor exercise.

Moreno finished fourth on the vault at the 2019 Melbourne World Cup. She then won the bronze medal on the vault at the Baku World Cup behind Jade Carey and Oksana Chusovitina. She once again placed fourth on the vault at the Doha World Cup. At the Mexican Championships, she won the vault title and placed seventh in the all-around. Then at the Korea Cup, she won the bronze medal on the vault behind Yeo Seo-jeong and Oksana Chusovitina. At the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, she finished sixth in the vault final and qualified for the 2020 Olympics with her fortieth-place all-around finish in the qualification round.

Moreno represented Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics and became only the second Mexican female gymnast to qualify for a final after Denisse López qualified for the vault final at the 2000 Olympic Games. She finished fourth in the vault final by less than one-tenth behind bronze medalist Yeo Seo-jeong. She announced her retirement after the Olympics.

2023: Comeback
In March 2023, Moreno announced her return to training and intent to attend the 2023 Pan American Championships in Medellín, Colombia. She represented Mexico at the 2023 Pan American Championships, where she earned a gold medal on the vault with a score of 13.700. Additionally, she helped the Mexican team win the silver medal behind the United States. She was the female flag bearer for Mexico at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador, where she won gold medals with the team and on floor exercise and vault. She also won the silver medal in the all-around and the bronze medal on the balance beam.

At the 2023 Paris World Challenge Cup, Moreno won gold in the vault final as well as bronze in the floor exercise final behind Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos and Jade Barbosa. Then at the World Championships, the Mexican team finished 14th in the qualification round, missing out on a team quota for the 2024 Olympic Games by two positions. However, Moreno secured an individual quota by finishing third all-around among the eligible athletes. She finished 18th in the all-around final and fourth in the vault final. She represented Mexico at the 2023 Pan American Games despite dealing with a knee injury. She only competed on the uneven bars and helped the Mexican team finish fourth.

2024: Road to Third olympics
Moreno competed in two stops of the 2024 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series. At the Varna World Challenge Cup, she earned a bronze medal on vault with a score of 13.750. At the Koper World Challenge Cup, she earned a gold medal on vault with a score of 13.600.

Awards
In November 2019, Moreno won the Premio Nacional de Deportes 2019 (National Sports Prize 2019) in the "non-professional" category. Also in 2019, she won the Woman of the Year poll in the El Financiero newspaper and was recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in Mexico by Forbes Mexico magazine.

Sponsorships
Moreno starred in a Toyota commercial during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Toyota is one of her sponsors.

Personal life
During the 2016 Olympics, Moreno was bullied and fat-shamed on social media. In December 2021, she graduated with a degree in Architecture from the University of the Valley of Mexico, Mexicali campus. She admires Mexican Taekwondo athlete María Espinoza. She is a k-pop and anime fan and her floor music at the 2020 Olympics is from the anime 'Demon Slayer'.