Arnulfo Castorena never knew his mother.
She died in childbirth, and his father abandoned him after learning that he had been born without a lung, a left arm, or legs. His grandmother, Doña Todosia, raised him and called him “Cocoliso” after the Popeye character. No school in Guadalajara would accept him, so he ended up in a rehabilitation boarding school in Mexico City, where he learned to read and write. There, a nun who was a Chivas fan, whom everyone called Sor Chiva, saw something in him and encouraged him to take to the water.
When he was 12, his grandmother passed away, and he returned to Guadalajara. To earn money for food, he sold gum and cleaned windshields at intersections. Even so, he started swimming at 16 and never stopped: gold in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Tokyo 2020 and, on September 5, 2024, once again in Paris, in the 50-meter breaststroke.
He is 46 years old, has seven children and seven Paralympic medals, and repeats one reason: he keeps swimming to support his family.
