Colombia – Woman and Sport!
On the way to London 2012!
Ximena Restrepo Gaviria
Did you know- In the early 1990s, Colombian sprinter Ximena Restrepo Gaviria caused a sensation when she won a bronze medal in the women’s 400 meters at the Summer Games in the Spanish city of Barcelona. She is one of the few Hispanic sprinters to win an Olympic medal. Inspired by Juana Mosquera and Eucaris Caicedo, she won many international events in America, South America and Europe during the years 1985 and 1992. At the time, Colombia’s Olympic ambassador, Restrepo Gaviria, was the toast of the Latin American sports community. By September 1988, she was ranked 34th, ahead of Joyce Odhiambo (Kenya, Africa) and Gaily Dube (Zimbabwe, Africa), in the women’s 200m at the South Korean Summer Games, out of 51 athletes. After her retirement from the national team, the South American sprinters were never again so successful at the Summer Olympics.
alicia mora rosemary
Did you know- For the year 2004, the national athlete Alicia Mora Romero ranked fifth in the women’s 49 kilogram category at the Olympic Taekwondo Tournament in Athens (Greece).
Leidy Yessenia Solis
Did you know- Weightlifter Leidy Yessenia Solis, 17, won the gold medal in the women’s 69-kilogram category at the World Junior Championships in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2007. Since then, she should be a medal candidate at the Olympic Games of London 2012.
Olga Lucia Angulo
Did you know- At the 1970 Central American and Caribbean Games in Panama City, Colombian swimmer Olga Lucía Angulo won two gold medals.
Basketball
Did you know- Colombia hosted the Women’s Basketball World Championship in the mid-1970s. Despite having one of the best basketball players in Latin America, Sofía Nieto, the local team lost all six of its games. In that year they ranked sixth in the VII Pan American Games, behind America, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and Canada. During the United Mexican States Games, Colombia defeated El Salvador 96-59. Nine years later, surprisingly, Colombia defeated Brazil 62-51 and won the South American Championship. By 1983, the Brazil team had won the bronze medal in women’s basketball at the IX Pan American Games in Venezuela. The South American winners, under the direction of Guillermo Moreno Rumie, were Consuelo Aristazabal, María de Jesús Arizala, Gloria Gómez, Elizabeth Hinestroza, Irene Lamprea, Miriam León, Norma Lozano, Margarita Martí, Patricia Ordoñez, Gloria Ortiz, Yaneth Torijano and Mónica Villasmil. . The Colombian women’s basketball team is the sixth South American team to win the Continental Tournament, after Chile (1946), Argentina (1948), Paraguay (1952), Brazil (1954), and Peru (1977).