Gaudelia DÃÂaz Romero (born in 1964) is a Mexican former Paralympic athlete who competed mainly in B1 category distance events. She is also a singer, pianist, and actress who has performed under the pseudonym Crystal since the 1980s. Among her hits are "Suavemente" and "No Me Pregunten Por ÃÂl".
In the 1990s, DÃÂaz was part of the Mexican team that traveled to Barcelona, Spain for the 1992 Summer Paralympics. There she competed in the 800 meters (where she finished fourth), 1500m (where she finished fourth) and 3000m, in which she won a bronze medal.
Gaudelia DÃÂaz Romero was born in Acapulco, Guerrero, in 1964. DÃÂaz was born blind into a poor family, and was harassed by her brothers as she was growing up. She learned to play the piano by ear. She began practicing various sports as a child, including skating, soccer, and gymnastics, but gave up the latter because it required seeing the parallel bars. Instead, a friend invited her to go running, and she became interested in running.
Around 1981, DÃÂaz met Sergio Andrade, a Mexican record producer, and both composed "", a song that entered the 11th Mexican national selection for the OTI Festival and made it to the national finals. DÃÂaz and Andrade started dating, and he became her manager. After this, their relationship became violent, as Andrade constantly threatened to physically attack her. According to an interview given to Mara Patricia Castañeda, DÃÂaz said that Andrade psychologically humiliated her when she made mistakes in her singing or piano playing, including one occasion at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan, where he threatened to break her arm to justify why she could not play the piano on that occasion.
Their relationship lasted three years, until she realized that she was not living in a normal situation. Mexican singer Juan Gabriel helped her leave Andrade after asking him for advice. DÃÂaz attended a concert by Juan Gabriel, during which he sang a song for her. According to her, he was upset and believed she was looking to Juan Gabriel to become her new producer. Because of that, Andrade did not let her perform the song "", a song about a blind person expecting better times, at the 13th Mexican national selection for the OTI Festival, which ultimately ended up being sung by Yuri, winning the national final, and representing Mexico in the OTI Festival 1984, where she placed third.
DÃÂaz participated in the 1991 Parapan American Games, held in Puerto RicoâÂÂwhich at the time the games had no official recognitionâÂÂwhere she won gold in the 400, 800, and 1500 meters events. The next year, she competed in the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, in the 800, 1500, and 3000 meters events. She finished third in the latter event and fourth in the others, earning a bronze medal. She ended her athletics career due to a lack of support.
After her return from Barcelona, Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, then CEO of Televisa, asked her to join the company's artistic staff. She acted in the telenovela Lazos de Amor. She later met Miguel ÃÂngel Huerta, whom she married. Both were in charge of the Sports Federation for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Huerta is also visually impaired but to a lesser degree, and he was director of the Mexican Paralympic Committee. As of 2021, DÃÂaz stated that she was single and living in Acapulco, where she assists visually impaired children with musical education.
Adapted from AllMusic and iTunes.