Panama City, Jul 15 (EFE) .- Panama formed for these Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games a delegation of 10 athletes from five different disciplines, most of whom will have their first experience in an Olympic event.
There will be seven Panamanians who will parade for the first time at the opening of the Olympic Games, which are scheduled to open on Wednesday, July 23 and will run until August 8.
The debutants are Christofer Jurado (cycling), Gianna Woodruff (athletics), Nathalee Aranda (athletics), Kristine Jiménez (judo), Miryam Roper (judo), Emily Santos (swimming) and Tyler Christianson (swimming).
Jurado, a promising 25-year-old Panamanian rider, was the first athlete from the Isthmus of Panama to get his place in the Olympic Games.
The cyclist, remembered for being the silver medal in the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2018, also carries the responsibility of being the first cyclist in an Olympic event and in turn will be the thirteenth sport to represent Panama in the Olympic Games.
The same story runs in the discipline of Judo, where for the first time Panamanians have two representatives in the discipline, with Miryam Roper, at the head, a 39-year-old judoka born in Germany and a Panamanian father, will compete for the first time with Panama and the fledgling Olympic competitor, Kristine Jiménez.
Roper and Jiménez are two of the six women that make up the Panamanian troop for Tokyo.
It will be the third time in history that Panama has brought more women than men to the Olympic Games. This situation had previously arisen in the Games of Rome 1960 and Rio 2016.
The female contingent will have in its ranks the second youngest athlete to compete in this type of event, she is the swimmer Emily Santos.
Santos turned 16 years old this Thursday and is the second youngest Panamanian athlete to be in the Games, being only below the also swimmer Eileen Coparropa in Atlanta 1996 (15 years and 109 days).
The swim team is completed by Tyler Christianson, a 19-year-old swimmer, showing rapid progress in each of the competitions he has held on his way to the Olympics.
From the novelty of Santos, one can go on to the experienced Alonso Edward, a Panamanian sprinter who for the third time meets the goal of being in the Olympic Games.
Edward and Panamanian athletics are always in the running to fight for a final and a medal.
The measuring stick was left at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by Irving Saladino with the gold medal in the long jump.
Edward will be joined by long jump athletes Nathalee Aranda and hurdler Gianna Woodruff.
Aranda and Woodruff are other new figures in athletics, but because of their walk in the different previous competitions, they must be paid attention in each of their competitions.
Marathon runner Jorge Castelblaco, who will compete in his second games in a row, completes the athletics representation.
Panamanian boxing will once again be in an Olympic tournament, again its figure will be Atheyna Bylon.
The Panamanian fighter, when the opening bell rings and goes into the ring, will become the first boxing athlete (woman or man) to repeat representation in the Olympic Games.
In these Tokyo 2020 Games, Panama will have 93 Olympic athletes since its debut in 1928. 26 women and 67 men have competed on the Central American isthmus. EFE
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