[2][3] A member of the sailing roster at Banana River Windsurfing Resort in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Rios trained under the tutelage of her personal coach Brandon Sebald.

[4] Before securing one of the seven berths available at the Worlds in late January 2008, she topped the selection criteria in a three-way controversial battle against Karen Marriott and Farrah Hall at the U.S.

US Sailing favored Rio's appeal for redress, raised her cumulative score, and awarded her a spot on the team.

[6] During her maiden Games, Rios clearly struggled to catch a large fleet of windsurfers from behind under breezy conditions with marks lower than the top 20 and an unanticipated eighth-leg exit at the end of ten-race series, sitting her steadily in twenty-sixth overall with a net grade of 224.

Moreover, Rios' cumulative score spared her from the bottom of the field by a slight, eight-point edge over Turkey's Sedef Köktentürk.