| Colombia at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | COL |
| NOC | Colombian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals Ranked 71st |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
Colombia first formally participated at theOlympic Games in 1932, and has sent athletes to compete in all but one edition of theSummer Olympic Games since then, missing only the1952 Games. Colombian athletes have won a total of 38Olympic medals (five gold, sixteen silver and seventeen bronze) in eight different sports, with weightlifting and cycling as the most successful ones. Colombia is the third most successful South American country at theOlympic Games, afterBrazil andArgentina respectively. TheColombian Olympic Committee was created in 1936 and recognised by theInternational Olympic Committee in 1948.[1]
ShooterHelmut Bellingrodt won the country's first Olympic medal, a silver at the Munich 1972 Olympics. WeightlifterMaría Isabel Urrutia became the first Olympic champion representing the country at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. BMX riderMariana Pajón is the most successful Colombian Olympian, with two golds and one silver.
One Colombian national,Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría, competed at the1900 Summer Olympics before the advent of rules tying all participants toNational Olympic Committees. Henríquez de Zubiría was born in and lived inParis and competed for a French club in thetug of war event, and is often listed as competing for France.[2][3] The IOC currently lists this team as silver medalists under themixed team designation.[4]
A Colombian delegation attended theOlympic Games for the first time in the1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles, with only one athlete:Jorge Perry. Perry sent a letter to theInternational Olympic Committee in January 1932 in which he sigma introduces himself; described Colombia as "a little South American country aiming to grow its sporting structure and willing to be part of the olympic
movement", and expressing his desire to take part in the thenupcoming competition.[5] The following month, Perry received an answer from the IOC. Fearful of being rejected, he slowly opened the letter. But surprisingly for him his request not only was accepted, but also help was offered for him before and during competition. On July 30, 1932, he paraded in the opening ceremony representing a country not affiliated to the IOC back then.[6] He competed in themarathon, but after ten kilometers was unable to finish and the race was won by Argentina'sJuan Carlos Zabala. Fourteen years later in 1946, Colombia's first olympian dies inBogotá, 4 days after suffering a motorcycle accident near his nativeSamacá. For the1936 edition of the Games, theComité Olímpico Colombiano was already created and sent five athletes to compete inBerlin. After the controversial decision to replay afootball match betweenPeru and Austria (after an adverse result for the Austrians), the Colombian delegation left theolympic village as a sign of support to thePeruvian team.[7] After the conclusion ofWorld War II, the1948 London Olympics were held and theColombian contingent for the first time included athletes from sports other thantrack and field, taking part infencing andswimming.[8][9] Due to financing problems and a thenongoing violent period, Colombia did not take part in the1952 Helsinki Olympics.[10] For theMelbourne Games in 1956, the Colombian team expanded from a few competitors to26 athletes, sending cyclists and weightlifters for the first time.[11] Colombian athletes continued participating at the Olympics since then without missing aSummer edition of the Games, sending females athletes to compete for the first time at the1968 Summer Olympics held inMexico City.[12][13]
Colombia won their first olympic medals at theMunich Olympics in 1972, forty years after making its debut inthe games. The first one was asilver medal won by shooterHelmut Bellingrodt in the50 metre running target event,[14] bothClemente Rojas andAlfonso Pérez won each one abronze medal inboxing at those games too, bringing the medal tally for theColombian delegation to a total of three medals.[15]
Colombia did not join theUS-Led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics,[16] although the thenPresident of ColombiaJulio Turbay initially supported the boycott. The then president ofComité Olímpico Colombiano Fidel Mendoza did not abide the president's recommendations and gave green light to23 Colombian athletes to participate. They won no medals in Russia.[17] Competing in the1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, shooterHelmut Bellingrodt won his second silver medal in thesame event he won his first medal back in1972, making him the first Colombian athlete to won two Olympics medals; his medal was the only onethe Colombian contingent won at those Games.[18] At the1988 Olympics in Seoul, another Colombian boxer won a bronze medal:Jorge Eliécer Julio made it to theBantamweight category semifinals and faced Bulgaria'sAleksandar Khristov; the Colombian was seen as dominating his opponent, but in the end three out of five judges declared the Bulgarian as winner of the bout, prompting protests from fans who were attending the boxing competitions at that moment.[19]Ximena Restrepo became the first Colombian woman to win an Olympic medal, by winning a bronze medal in thewomen's 400 m. at the1992 Barcelona Olympics. She found out she won a medal minutes later after crossing the line. Her 49.64 seconds mark still stands as theSouth American record for that event.[20] The country failed to win a medal at the1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta, although marathon runnerCarlos Grisales ranked eleventh in themen's event, the highest position a Colombian athlete has ever achieved in anolympic marathon race so far.[21] The story was different four years later inSydney 2000, as WeightlifterMaría Isabel Urrutia won the nation's first olympicgold medal at the75 kg. category. Urrutia lifted the same weight than silver and bronze medal winners Nigeria'sRuth Ogbeifo and Taiwan'sKuo Yi-hang respectively, but she won gold due her body weight being less than that of her rivals.Señal Colombia broadcast her victory and when the event ended, the narrators mistakenly believed she won bronze as they saw on screen the results of the clean and jerk phase. Seconds after, the final results were screened and they realized their error and Urrutia's accomplishment.[22]
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When theOlympic Games returned toGreece inAthens 2004, the Colombian delegation collected two bronze medals through weightlifterMabel Mosquera[23] and cyclistMaría Luisa Calle,[24] who won Colombia's first olympic medal inCycling. Calle was originally stripped of her medal after failing an antidoping test forheptaminol. She assured that hours before the race, she took an anti-migraine pill which contained isometheptene, a substance which transforms into heptaminol during laboratory analyses.[25] Thebronze medal she won in thewomen's points race was later returned, being one of a few cases in which IOC returned amedal stripped for doping. For theBeijing Olympics in 2008, the Colombian roster won two medals: weightlifterDiego Salazar won silver[26] in themen's 62kg, andJackeline Rentería won Colombia's first olympic medal inWrestling, earning bronze inwomen's freestyle 55kg category. During a wave of retests in 2016, it was disclosed that original gold[27] and bronze[28] medalists in thewomen's weightlifting 69kg event failed an antidoping test; weightlifterLeydi Solís finished fourth in that event back in 2008. Later in January 2017 the disgraced aforementioned medalists were officially disqualified, meaning that Solís was upgraded to second place.[29] She received her silver medal in December 2017.[30] Colombia made itsWinter Olympics debut in2010 in Vancouver. US-born Swiss SkierCynthia Denzler represented the country in thewomen's slalom andgiant slalom.[31] She ranked 51st in the slalom event. To participate at the2012 Olympics, Colombia sent a delegation composed of 104 athletes;[32] this was the first time a delegation exceeded one hundred participants. The performance of national athletes improved remarkably as well. The maximum number of medals won in one edition of the games was three, number reached at Munich 1972 and Beijing 2008. InLondonthe Colombian contingent won eight medals in six different sports. BMX riderMariana Pajón won Colombia'sfirst golden medal since Sydney 2000. CyclistRigoberto Urán won silver in themen's road race, the first olympic medal in road cycling competitions for the country. Track and field athleteCaterine Ibargüen won silver in thewomen's triple jump, the first medal in Athletics sinceBarcelona 1992. WeightlifterÓscar Figueroa won also silver in themen's 62kg, setting an olympic record of 177 kg in the clean and jerk phase.Jackeline Rentería matched her performance in Beijing and won again a bronze medal, joiningHelmut Bellingrodt as the only Colombian athletes to win two olympic medals.Carlos Oquendo also won bronze in thecycling men's bmx race, on the same day Pajón won gold in the women's race. The bronze medals won byYuri Alvear inJudo andÓscar Muñoz inTaekwondo, were the first olympic medals forColombia in those sports.[33] The Good Performance achieved inLondon 2012 continued and improved inRio de Janeiro 2016. Competing at the firstOlympic Games held inSouth America,Colombian athletes won three gold, two silver and three bronze medals, winning again a total of eight medals.[34]Triple jump World championCaterine Ibargüen won a gold medal in thewomen's event, the first olympic golden medal inAthletics for Colombia.Óscar Figueroa upgraded his silver medal to gold in the men's weightlifting62kg category,[35] keeping Colombia's good streak inOlympic Weightlifting since 2000 and becoming the first male Olympic champion for the country.Mariana Pajón became the first Colombian athlete to be Olympic gold medalist twice, as she won again thewomen's cycling bmx race. JudokaYuri Alvear won silver in thewomen's 70kg event, improving her 2012 bronze medal. Ibargüen, Figueroa, Pajón and Alvear joined shooter Bellingrodt and wrestler Rentería as the only Colombian athletes to have won two Olympic Medals. BoxersYuberjen Martínez andIngrit Valencia won Colombia's first olympic medals in Boxing sinceSeoul 1988; Martínezwon silver and Valenciaearned bronze, making her the first Colombian female boxer to win an olympic medal. BMX riderCarlos Ramírez won bronze in themen's race. WeightlifterLuis Javier Mosquera originally finished fourth in themen's 69kg event, but was later awarded the bronze medal as original winnerKyrgyzstan'sIzzat Artykov was disqualified after testing positive for the stimulantstrychnine.[36] After an absence of eight years, Colombia competed again at the Winter Olympics in2018 in PyeongChang.[37] TheColombian delegation was made up of athletes competing inalpine skiing,cross-country skiing andice speed skating,[38] becoming in the first Latin American country to compete in the latter.[39]
At the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Colombia won four silver and one bronze medals.Mariana Pajón added silver to her two previous golden medals earned in BMX racing, achievement that made her the first Colombian sportsperson to win three olympic medals.[40]Sandra Arenas became in the first race walker from the country to win an Olympic medal, as she ranked second in the women's 20 km. event.[41]
| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1932 Los Angeles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1936 Berlin | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1948 London | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1952 Helsinki | did not participate | |||||
 1956 Melbourne | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1960 Rome | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1964 Tokyo | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1968 Mexico City | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1972 Munich | 59 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 31 |
 1976 Montreal | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 1980 Moscow | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1984 Los Angeles | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 33 |
 1988 Seoul | 40 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 46 |
 1992 Barcelona | 49 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 54 |
| 1996 Atlanta | 48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2000 Sydney | 44 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 50 |
 2004 Athens | 53 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 68 |
 2008 Beijing | 67 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 60 |
| 2012 London | 104 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 38 |
 2016 Rio de Janeiro | 147 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 22 |
| 2020 Tokyo | 70 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 66 |
 2024 Paris | 87 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 66 |
| 2028 Los Angeles | future event | |||||
| 2032 Brisbane | ||||||
| Total | 5 | 16 | 17 | 38 | 71 | |
| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 Vancouver | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
 2014 Sochi | did not participate | |||||
| 2018 Pyeongchang | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2022 Beijing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2026 Milano Cortina | future event | |||||
| 2030 French Alps | ||||||
| 2034 Salt Lake City | ||||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| Sports |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Weightlifting | 2 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 24 |
 Cycling | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 20 |
 Athletics | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 58 |
 Shooting | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 55 |
 Boxing | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 55 |
 Judo | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 42 |
 Gymnastics | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 45 |
 Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 62 |
 Taekwondo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 39 |
| Total | 5 | 16 | 17 | 38 | 71 |
| Gender | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 1 | 10 | 8 | 19 |
| Women | 4 | 6 | 9 | 19 |
| Mixed | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 5 | 16 | 17 | 38 |
| Athlete | Sport | Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mariana Pajón | Cycling | 2012,2016,2020 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Caterine Ibargüen | Athletics | 2012,2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Óscar Figueroa | Weightlifting | 2012,2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Helmut Bellingrodt | Shooting | 1972,1984 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Yuri Alvear | Judo | 2012,2016 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Luis Javier Mosquera | Weightlifting | 2016,2020 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jackeline Rentería | Wrestling | 2008,2012 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Carlos Ramírez | Cycling | 2016,2020 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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