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Valle del Cauca, a land sown with champions

Sport is breathed in each of the places in Valle del Cauca. From the strokes that win medals thanks to the training in the traditional pools of the Pan American Cancha de Cali, to the green Pradera, where for several years young people have run like athletes to win races against violence.

The air that sports give to the souls of Valle del Cauca is so powerful that the weightlifters from Tuluá, Yumbo and Cartago can lift kilos of glory whenever they want to, while the judocas from Jamundí and the fencers from Buga work in the moves that will take them to the top.

The department of the joys that are achieved with the sweat of the heart works jointly with the sports leagues of each of the disciplines to promote all the talent that is produced in this land.

In 2019, our department, with an investment of 37 billion pesos, returned to conquer the National Games after 23 long years, confirming the quality that exists.

Next, the sports map of this factory of champions called Valle del Cauca.

Cali, city of swimmers

In the most recent national jousts, swimming won 23 of the 165 gold medals obtained by the Valle delegation. And this is due, according to Rosa de Archer —the president of the Vallecaucana Swimming League— to the enormous preparation that the athletes of this region have, who are privileged to have two sports centers of international stature such as the aforementioned Pan American Fields and the Hernando Botero O’Byrne pools, where hundreds of promises of this sport and its modalities train every day.

“Here we can not only talk that we have a natural talent because of the biotype and the climate it does, but also because of the support of Indervalle and the quality of the scenarios that there are to practice,” says Rosa.

At this time, Cali conquers the international pools thanks to the talent of swimmers like Jonathan Gómez (who even competed in the United States League) and Isabella Arcilla. Both, in addition, represented Colombia in the last Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016, being under 23 years of age.

Juan Manuel Morales, Santiago Corredor, Laura Sofía Henao, Bárbara Muñoz, Karina Vivas, María Paula Álvarez, Marcela Rupett and Anthony Rincón are other talents in the racing modality.

“I think we are a power because of the infrastructure, because of the support of Indervalle, which is doing a great job with us because we are the power sport,” said Juan Manuel Morales, a racing swimmer.

Hapkido, the sport of youth

Hapkido, a Korean discipline that is sister to taekwondo, has also been gaining strength in the capital of Valle del Cauca.

The history of this sport in Cali, according to Natalia Saray, president of the Vallecaucana League, goes back ten years ago, when some seedbeds made in communes 18 and 20 impacted and conquered many young people and children.

“Right now the Valley is the only one that has Hapkido competitions at the departmental level,” he proudly states, assuring that this martial art is made up of combinations of kicks, throws and keys “that are a personal defense mechanism.”

Sebastián Sevillano, 26, is one of the greatest exponents of hapkido in Cali. In 2019, in fact, he won a gold medal for the department at the National Games.

For him, the most interesting thing is that this practice that he is passionate about “seeks to reach young people in the most vulnerable areas of the city such as Siloé.”

According to Sevillano, “this is a sport linked to tolerance and respect, it is about you being able to maintain control between your body and your mind, and I think that is what many young people need today.”

Natalia Saray assures that at the moment the Vallecaucana League has 40 prospects between the ages of 12 and 18 who will give great satisfaction to the region in the upcoming competitions.

The weights, the pride of Colombia

The statistics do not lie. Six of the eight medals that Colombia has obtained in weightlifting in the Olympic Games have been won by athletes from Valle del Cauca.

The first was the one conquered in Sydney 2000 by María Isabel Urrutia, an athlete from Candelaria who filled the country with pride.

This led to this sport being promoted in other municipalities where Olympic medalists grew up, such as Cartago (Óscar Figueroa), Tuluá (Diego Salazar and Leidy Solís) and Yumbo (Luis Javier Mosquera).

Mosquera, bronze in Rio 2016 after one of his rivals was disqualified for doping, assures that Valle is strong in weights due to the fusion of races that its athletes have.

“This mix between Afro-descendants and indigenous people makes us a power, because we are very strong,” says the 26-year-old weightlifter, who is clear about his goal at this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo: “I want to win gold,” he says. .

Mosquera attributes the success of the weightlifters in Yumbo and Cartago to the trainer Damaris Delgado, who not only contributed to his training process, but also to that of Óscar Figueroa.

Delgado emphasizes that the Valle del Cauca breed definitely has the perfect biotype to practice this discipline. “We come from an ancestry that was very resistant, therefore we are too,” he says.

Jhonatan Rivas, from Cartago, is another of the greatest exponents that Colombia has in weights.

Judo, the feminine power of Jamundí

Professor Ruperto Guauña is the main judo teacher in Jamundí, a municipality that welcomed him in 1995 when the company where he worked for more than nine years decided to fire him.

Guauña, passionate about sports, began to promote this martial art for free until he was hired by some schools to teach physical education classes.

And in one of those educational centers he discovered Yuri Alvear, who was in the ninth grade and was punching and kicking himself with his brother.

Alvear’s spirit and Ruperto’s vision came together and years later, Yuri became the most glorious athlete in Jamundí for her achievements, including having won two Olympic medals, a bronze (2012) and a silver (2016).

Everyone thought that the Jamundeña would win gold in Tokyo, but an injury will make her miss the Japanese jousts, which were to be her last Olympic competition.

However, the ‘Yuri phenomenon’ has meant that in the land of the cholado, judo has become a part of the feminine cultural identity.

“In all those years that I have been here, I think I have spread Judo to 60-70% of the children, but those who practice it are women,” says Guauña.

One of these exponents is Luz Adiela Álvarez, who at 34 years of age proudly says that the legend of Alvear inspires her.

“Yuri is a person who comes from below, from a humble family and thanks to judo he was able to grow and help his loved ones improve their quality of life. That positively impacts all the jodocas that come back. It is very nice to have that reference “, he pointed out.

With great pride, Álvarez, who has already been a South American, Pan-American and Bolivarian medalist, says that next week, in Hungary, he will seek his qualification to the Tokyo Olympics.

In Pradera they beat violence with athletics

Yolanda Beltrán has been dedicated to sport for more than 35 years. A former javelin thrower, she is now training new athletic talents in Pradera, a municipality that has been hit hard by violence and lack of opportunities.

Beltrán remembers that she has had the vocation to teach from a very young age, when she was the one who trained at the Municipal Stadium Salustio Reyes Caicedo.

“Every time I was walking to the stadium with that heavy javelin, I saw a lot of children in the corners and then I told them to accompany me and to take advantage of the time in another way so that when they grew up they could be athletes and travel ”, he relates.

That is how, after retirement, Yolanda began to spot and hone the talents of her region.

“I go to the gallery to shop and I am aware of which child I see who may have conditions. That is something that is noticeable ”, he assures.

Thanks to her, Pradera has been bringing out a litter of very interesting athletes such as Flor Denis Ruiz, María Lucelly Murillo and the brothers José Gregorio and Sandra Lemus.

José Gregorio, who has represented Valle in the National Games and Colombia in different international competitions, considers that Professor Sandra is a file “that sharpens the touch.”

“She motivates you, she convinces you that you can become an athlete. Look for talents in the most marginal areas of Pradera and key them to the stadium to train them, ”he says.

Despite the important work he does, Beltrán considers that his municipality needs many more areas for children and young people to practice sports: “The ones that exist are not enough for everyone.”

Buga, city of fencers

The miraculous city of the Valley also stands out for the quality of its fencers, who are trained by Olga Lucía Quevedo, a woman passionate about this sport and who has also transmitted that love for the sword to her four children: they all practiced this discipline.

In fact, Jhon Édison Rodríguez Quevedo and María de los Ángeles Jaramillo Quevedo have participated for Colombia in a large number of international competitions.

At her club, Olga is in charge of polishing the new fencing blood. Before the start of the pandemic, it trained a total of 75 athletes. He is now 26.

“I feel very blessed that many talented children come here. We work with joy and with the desire to get ahead and that is why the good results are seen ”, he affirmed.

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