Mariana Pajón and Caterine Ibargüen are the main hopes of the Colombian delegation, made up of 71 athletes, who will seek to make history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as their goal is to surpass the record of eight medals obtained in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 .
The third largest delegation that takes the country to an Olympic event, is more motivated than ever to face this challenge, which will begin on July 23, despite being decimated in number compared to the 147 athletes who participated in Rio 2016.
This reduction is due to the cancellation of several qualifying events as a result of the effects of the pandemic, the failure to qualify for any team as a whole, as in the case of the Colombia Soccer team and the sanction that reduced the number of participants in the uprising. of weights, eight to three.
Despite these obstacles, expectations remain high. Before leaving office, the former Minister of Sports, Ernesto Lucena, predicted that Colombia would obtain 10 medals in these games.
The 48 men and 23 women who will participate in Colombia will compete in 16 sports: archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, golf, judo, swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, skateboarding, taekwondo, tennis and sport shooting.
These are some of the strongest cards that will represent the country at the Olympics.
Caterine Ibargüen
In the last Olympic Games of her career, Caterine Ibargüen, who postponed her retirement for a year due to the rescheduling of the Olympic Games due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is the main Colombian card to get on the podium in Tokyo and reaffirm even more his name in the group of the best Olympic athletes in history in triple jump.
Ibargüen, 37, was Olympic champion in Rio 2016 and runner-up in London 2012 and this time she will be the standard-bearer for the Colombian delegation. Although she achieved qualification for Tokyo 2020 in the long jump and triple jump, she will only be in the competition that has filled her with glory and worldwide recognition.
Mariana Pajon
In BMX, the two-time champion Mariana Pajón starts as a favorite, after becoming an Olympic champion in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
For this occasion, the Colombian rider arrives recharged because, despite the fact that in 2018 she suffered a ligament tear that left her off the slopes for nine months, at the end of May she prevailed in Bogotá in the BMX World Championship and resumed the first place in the discipline ranking, thus proving that she is ready to win a gold medal in Tokyo, and become even more of a legend.
Yuberjen Martinez
Yuberjen Martínez, 29 years old, will return to the ring in the 52 kilogram division, with more enthusiasm and optimism than five years ago, as he will make his debut in this category, after the Mini Fly weight was eliminated.
The boxer from Antioquia will face this new sporting challenge in his career with the aim of taking revenge for the silver medal obtained in the last Olympic Games in Rio 2016. From that day on, he promised that he would not rest until he became an Olympic champion.
Anthony Zambrano
In Tokyo, Anthony Zambrano arrives as a candidate for the Olympic gold in the 400 meter dash, as one of the greatest revelations in the world of athletics. This after winning the Carlos Gil Pérez Memorial in Spain, the Diamond League stop in Italy and, at the end of June, the Madrid meeting.
At 23 years old, this guajiro is the favorite to take the gold medal, after precisely in Madrid he defeated the king of this category, Wayde Van Niekerk, who won gold in Rio 2016 and who seeks to remain on the throne.
Ingrit Valencia
Ingrit Valencia Victoria, 32 years old, national boxing champion, gold medalist in the Bolivarian, South American and Central American and Caribbean games, is another of the strongest cards that Colombia has to win an Olympic medal in Japan.
This is also because he has a personal revenge, after obtaining the bronze medal in Rio 2016 and although he has not had many competitions due to the pandemic, his capacity and power is enough to excite all Colombians.
Luis Javier Mosquera
Colombia had eight quotas in weights to the Olympics, but after the investigation of three athletes who tested positive for boldenone, the Colombian Federation and the International Weightlifting Federation agreed to reduce the number of the delegation in this discipline and avoid a drastic sanction that could cause the absence of Colombian weightlifters in these Olympic Games and in those of Paris 2024.
Among these three athletes, 26-year-old Luis Javier Mosquera stands out, bronze in weightlifting in 2016, fifth in the World Cup in Thailand and second in the Pan American Games.
In addition, it comes from breaking the South American, Ibero-American and Pan-American records in the three modalities, on May 12 at the Ibero-American Open International Championship, by lifting 150 kilos in the snatch and 180 in the clean and jerk, for a total of 330 kilos.
Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah
The Valle del Cauca duo made up of Robert Farah and Juan Sebastián Cabal is another of the strongest cards that the country has to get a medal in the orbital event in Asian territory.
This after the excellent results they have obtained in recent months, including reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros and winning the ATP 500 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Barcelona, Spain, in March and April, respectively.
The strongest rivals that the Valle del Cauca duo will face are Croatians Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic.
Who are the classifieds?
The last quota reached for Colombia was that of the tennis player María Camila Osorio, 80 in the WTA ranking, who qualified thanks to her good performances and the resignation of Bianca Andreescu in the main draw of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
However, the qualification path for the Olympic dream began in 2019 with the marcher Lorena Arenas and continued with the athletes Sandra Galvis, Bernardo Baloyes, Caterine Ibargüen, Yosiri Urrutia, José Leonardo Montaña, Anthony Zambrano and Mauricio Ortega, to later join divers Sebastián Morales and Daniel Restrepo, and wrestler Carlos Izquierdo.
Then came the classifications in 2020 of the fighters Julián Horta and Óscar Tigreros; cyclist Kevin Quintero; in addition to Jefferson Ochoa and Andrea Ramírez, from taekwondo, and the marathoners Iván González and Angie Orjuela.
Starting in 2021, three new places were given, with the marchers Éider Arévalo, Diego Juan Pinzón and Jorge Ruíz, in addition to fencing with Saskia van Erven and the marathon runner Jeisson Suárez.
About two months ago the boxers Ingrit Valencia (51 kg.), Jenny Arias (57 kg.), Yuberjen Martínez (52 kg.), Céiber Ávila (57 kg.), Jorge Luis Vivas (81 kg.) And Cristian Salcedo (+91 kg.).
Then there was the classification in BMX of three athletes with Mariana Pajón, Carlos Ramírez and Vincent Pelluard. In addition to skateboarding with Jhancarlos González, as well as Ángel Hernández in trampoline gymnastics and the artistic swimming duet of Mónica Arango and Estefanía Álvarez, as well as the invitation of Bernardo Tobar in sports shooting and the classification of the golfer María José Uribe.
As the days passed, more places were confirmed, such as those of Daniel Pineda and Valentina Acosta in archery, added to those of Melissa González, Carlos SanMartín, Lucelly Murillo, Evelis Aguilar Torres, Alejandro Perlaza, Diego Armando Palomeque, Jhon Alexander Solis, Raúl Mena Pedroza and Carlos Andrés Lemos in athletics.
In addition to the classification of Yeseida Carrillo, Alexánder Castañeda and Esteban Soto in march, and of Sergio Andrés Higuita, Esteban Chaves, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Nairo Quintana, Rigoberto Urán and Paula Andrea Patiño in cycling.
Roberto Terán Tafur in equestrian, Juan Sebastián Muñoz in golf, Luz Adiela Álvarez in judo and Isabella Arcila, Jorge Mario Murillo and Sebastián Villa in swimming also qualified.
Finally, the classification of Santiago Rodallegas (81 Kgs), Mercedes Pérez (64 Kgs) and Luis Javier Mosquera (67 Kgs) in weightlifting and of tennis players Daniel Galán, Juan Sebastián Cabal, Robert Farah and María Camila Osorio were reported. .
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