MEXICO CITY -- Behind all the sacrifice, work, technique, discipline, teaching, learning and talent is something that has always been the biggest support for the two-time Olympic medalist and 11-time Pan American medalist Paola Espinosa: family.

Thanks to their support, the diver is a well-known figure not just in the country, but in the world.

She arrived at the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada with a painful absence she had to overcome for the first time: the loss of her father.

In an interview with ESPN Deportes, Paola shared that she is still grieving the loss of her father, who died a little over a year ago. She revealed that she decided to go home and tried to get on with life but she was not able to. Thus, her connection to her sister and mother is stronger now than ever, providing her just enough to get her to focus on new successes in her career.

"I always believed after I left home in La Paz, Baja California at age 11, that sooner or later, with a medal, I would come home and would have a somewhat normal life with my family, with my parents, but a year and a half ago God took my dad from me and I couldn't go home. I couldn't be at home like a normal person. But believe me, without my family's support, I would not be the person I am today," recognized Paola.

That was the most difficult moment in Paola's life, and in the life of her family, to the extent that she had trouble regaining direction about what she was doing and why she was doing it. "I fell apart inside. You could say that the only man who broke my heart was my dad's death, and it was so hard for me to recover from it. After something like that it is difficult to find your dreams again, to recover what you were thinking and what you want to be in life, your objectives and goals. But ultimately I don't do what I do for my dad. I do it for me, for my life, for my heart, for my mind because it's what I like to do. It's what I'm passionate about," she shared.

Paola is juggling with these conflicting feelings about the loss of her father: the emotional aspect of still not being able to move on, but also the knowledge that today she is a much stronger woman. "I still don't go out. It is such a heavy blow that it still hurts, I remember it and it makes me cry, and I continue to grieve his death. But the people by my side– my mom and sister–, we have become so strong and so close that we are able to smile at life," she said.

MEXICAN AMBASSADOR

Water, family and Espinosa have all blended into one since she was very young. Shortly after she was in born in Mexico City in 1986, her parents moved to Baja California where she began swimming and synchronized swimming classes.

Her diving achievements have taken her a step above the rest, both internationally and in her own country.

She was the flagbearer for the Mexican Team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where her first Olympic medal, a bronze, was placed around her neck. Three years later, she had the honor of lighting the cauldron of the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara in front of 49,000 fellow Mexicans and visitors. The following year, at the London Olympics, she won silver in the synchronized 10-meter platform.

Despite these accomplishments, the Mexican multiple medalist still feels afraid of diving from the 10-meter platform. But to hear her tell it, it is this fear that fuels her love for diving. And on Saturday, in her fourth Pan Am Games, Espinosa won gold in the 10 meters, outpointing two Canadians. She now has her eyes set on what would be her fourth Olympic Games next year.

Espinosa participated in the Pan Am Games for the first time 12 years ago at the age of 17, six years after she took up diving. During those games, we caught glimpses of the athlete that would become the most important figure in Mexican aquatic sports. At Santo Domingo in 2003, Espinosa won two bronze medals --in synchronized springboard and platform diving-- with her teammate Laura Sanchez.

Four years later, she tasted gold on two occasions with Sanchez and a silver medal with Tatiana Ortiz in the Rio de Janeiro Pan Ams. At Guadalajara in 2011, she won three more golds and a bronze. In Toronto, she tallied a gold for an incredible total of eleven medals in this hemispheric competition.

Now, at 28, she is Mexico's most decorated athlete (2 Olympic medals, 11 Pan Am medals, seven of them gold), and her relationship with the diving pool is characterized by a paradoxical feeling– suffering– which has pushed her to improve daily in pursuit of perfection, a goal that has brought her medals, fame and a place in the history of Mexican sports.

The Paola we spoke to in Ceforma, an aquatic complex in Tlalpan in Mexico City, is a diver working relentlessly to be in top form, not only for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, but one who hopes to go to Rio in 2016 in what will probably be her last Olympic Games.

"I'm glad to have already been given a spot at the Pan Am Games. This is my fourth Pan Am Games," said Paola. "I'm going into it very excited, hoping that it goes really well. I know that at these Games for the women in particular are a bit tougher, because Canada alone has a very strong women's team. It's going to be a great competition, and we Mexicans are going to give it everything we've got."

MA JIN'S SUPPORT

Paola also pointed to the lessons she has learned from her coach, Ma Jin, as one of the most important pillars in her life. Ma Jin's advice to her has gone beyond what to do when diving into the pool.

"Ma Jin is like a second mother to me. She is a person, a woman who has always looked out for me. She has been there through some very hard times in my life (...) and I'm thankful to her for everything she has done for me, both in and out of the pool. She has helped me to be a good person, and I love her life philosophy. When she says 'Yes, I want you to dive and be the best and I will try to help you do a perfect dive, but more than that I want you to be a good person, to be able to go out into the world and face anything,'" said Paola, who is most proud of the fact that wherever she went with Ma Jin, she won medals.

Her entrance into the world of competition, however, dates back a little farther. At the age of 11, she left Baja California to go train in Mexico city under Fransico Rueda. Before competing in the 2003 Pan American Games, Espinosa won gold in the three-meter event at the 2002 National Olympics.

Her competitive success is not limited to the Pan American Games. Espinosa has medals in her name from the Olympic Games, where gold eluded her in Beijing and London, as well as from world championships, where she was the world's best 10-meter diver in 2009. At the university level, where she competed four times, Paola took home 14 medals --five gold, four silver and five bronze.

Espinosa also left her mark on the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where she swept all three gold medals for diving. An injury kept her from competing in the Central American Games at Veracruz in 2014.

A FULL SLATE

Paola will compete in three events in Toronto 2015: synchronized diving with Dolores Hernández (three-meter springboard) and Alejandra Orozco (10-meter platform), as well as the individual 10-meter platform competition, which she already won gold. When asked specifically about the third competition, to which she returned after a substantial hiatus, she claimed that she is most passionate about that event, which she successfully defended from four years ago.

"I've never stopped doing platform. For a long time now I've always competed in both events. And truth be told, from the dives we do in synchronized I only have to add two more. For me that's something that could be difficult because you have to prepare much more to climb up to the 10-meter platform, but it's what I like. I'm more passionate about platform --I like to feel fear, to suffer-- and platform is what I enjoy most," admitted the diver from Baja California, as if feeling fear is what drives her.

Most importantly, she says in Toronto it will be a good time to gauge where she stands, turning her attention to Rio 2016, which will be, at least for her, the main goal at this point in her career.

"All of this is preparation for the Olympic Games," explained the Rome 2009 world champion. "I can't say that what happens at the Pan American Games will happen at the Olympics, but it will help me continue preparing, fine tuning details. If I make mistakes, I can identify what I did wrong in order to work on it and improve for the world championships and the Olympics," said the successful diver.

For the time being, Espinosa avoids speculation about whether the Olympic Games in Rio will be her last. She admitted that injuries have started to take their toll, and she also wants to focus her energies on other things, whether related to the sport or outside of it, although she shared that going to the Olympics is every athlete's greatest dream.

"It's better to take things as they come. My main goal is the upcoming Olympic games, which will be my fourth Olympics, and I say one step at a time. After the Games, we can decide. I think how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking will play a role in my decision. I have been diving for more than 20 years. I also really want to do a lot of other things in my life, so it will be a process of reflecting, figuring out what I most want to do, and making a decision," she said.

Salvador Rodriguez is based in Mexico City and covers boxing for ESPNDeportes.com and ESPN Mexico.