Colombia at the Paralympics

Colombia at the Paralympic Games

Flag of Colombia
IPC code  COL
NPC Comitè Paralìmpico Colombiano
Paralympic history
Summer Games
1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008

Colombia made its Paralympic Games début at the 1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto, with competitors taking part in track and field, table tennis and wheelchair basketball. The country has participated in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, except 1984, but has never entered the Winter Paralympics.[1]

Colombians have won a total of four medals at the Paralympic Games: one gold, one silver and two bronze. Pedro Mejia won the country's first medals when he took a gold and a bronze in swimming in 1980. His winning time of 1:27.88 in the final of the 100m breaststroke, D category, set a new world record. Colombia had to wait 28 years for its next two medals, which both came in the 2008 Games. Elkin Serna ran the men's marathon in 2:31:16 in the T12 category for athletes with severe visual disability, finishing less than a minute behind Chinese athlete Qi Shun's world record time of 2:30:32, and took silver. Moises Fuentes won bronze in the men's 100m breaststroke in the SB4 category.[2]

List of medallists

Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Gold Pedro Mejia 1980 Arnhem Swimming Men's 100 m Breaststroke D
 Silver Elkin Serna 2008 Beijing Athletics Men's Marathon T12
 Bronze Pedro Mejia 1980 Arnhem Swimming Men's 100 m Backstroke C-D
 Bronze Moises Fuentes 2008 Beijing Swimming Men's 100 m Breaststroke SB4

See also

References

  1. ^ Colombia at the Paralympics, International Paralympic Committee
  2. ^ Colombia at the Paralympics, International Paralympic Committee