It was a huge mark of the way Lopez has established himself within his field that he was chosen last November to be a flag bearer for his nation at the Opening Ceremony of the home World Taekwondo Championships in Guadalajara.

"I felt very happy to be part of the Opening Ceremony, to show my support for such an important event and for the whole Mexican team," Diego Garcia told World Taekwondo.

"It was very emotional when we came out with the flag, I had goosebumps as we

enjoyed the celebration of Mexican culture and everyone cheering our names."

Some 6,000 fans packed out the stadium to welcome all the fighters from across the world and sang the Mexican national anthem with great power.

"It was just an amazing feeling to listen to the Mexican national anthem here at home, but it’s also so nice to listen to the anthem on the other side of the world!" Lopez said.

"And I hope it will be playing again as I aim to win gold at Paris 2024."

The 2024 Paralympics will be shared globally on TV for the first time after the sport's highly successful debut at Tokyo 2020.

Without pandemic restrictions, Paris 2024 should be the first chance for the whole Lopez family to share the moment.

"I am fully focussed on qualifying directly for Paris 2024 and staying number one in the rankings," he said.

"I want to hear the anthem played again - this time with my family - and we will do everything possible to be together."

Family is a major motivation for Lopez who sees their support as central to his success, likewise the guidance of his coach Janet Alegria, and the two took the opportunity to study a few of the Olympic champions in Mexico.

Diego Garcia explained, "We have seen many top fighters here and there are some useful techniques that we will implement in our training to keep innovating.

"In 2023 we have the World Championships, the Grand Prix and the Para Pan American Games, so we must always seek out new ways and techniques to improve."

He stepped onto that path at the age of 14, and sees his success as a way to clear the way for others.

"This really motivates me and pushes me to do better in order to give a good example of how things should be done," he said.

"I feel really happy that there are people, and many kids, that are getting into Para taekwondo."

Significant progress has been made this year to fully incorporate Para taekwondo into the World Taekwondo calendar. Diego Garcia approves.

"This equality makes me very happy since the federation is being inclusive and Paralympic and Olympic athletes are being treated the same," he said.

The memories are still fresh of that night in the Makuhari Messe Hall at Tokyo 2020 when the 18-year-old celebrated extravagantly by spreading the Mexican flag across the mat where he had just defeated Iran's Mahdi Pourrahnama, 26-20 in the men's K44 under-75 kilograms final.

Lopez's victory took the Mexican Paralympic gold medal total to seven - one more than the country had achieved at London 2012.

An article on tecreview.tec.mx, written by Elizabeth Ruiz, details how he began in taekwondo at the age of five and joined the Mexican team at the National Center for the Development of Sports Talents and High Performance at the age of 14.

Two years later, he became senior world champion in Antalya, becoming the first Mexican to do so.

Later in 2019, he compounded his impact upon the sport when he took gold at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games.

At the age of 17, he was the winner of the 2020 National Sports Award in the Paralympic category.

With Para-taekwondo due to make its debut at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in 2021, the highest peak lay before the youngster.

He climbed it. Now he wants to wave the Mexican flag there once again…