- The first Olympic medal won by a Venezuelan athlete came at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.
Venezuela has a total of 20 medals in the Olympic Games, four of which are gold, seven silver and nine bronze. The award-winning athletes have performed in the disciplines of: boxing, taekwondo, athletics, weightlifting, cycling, fencing, rifle and swimming.
Venezuelan athletes made their Olympic debut in the 1948 London edition, led by cyclist Julio César León. Since then, the country has sent delegations to the sporting event uninterruptedly in the 18 subsequent editions.
The country has the sixth highest number of gold medals, behind Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Venezuela’s first medal came in Helsinki 1952 and it has managed to obtain medals in a total of 12 Olympic events.
The Venezuelan delegation has won five consecutive Olympic medals, from Athens 2004 to Tokyo 2020.
Helsinki 1952: Asnoldo Devonish
The athlete from Zulia, Asnoldo Devonish, won the first medal in the history of Venezuela at the Olympic Games: a bronze medal in the triple jump discipline.
The Helsinki triple jump competition took place on July 23, 1952. Devonish achieved the second best mark in the qualifying round with a jump of 15.24 meters. In the final phase of the competition, his best jump was 15.52 meters, which earned him third place on that occasion and a milestone for Venezuelan sport.
Rome 1960: Enrico Forcella
Two editions following Devonish’s feat, athlete Enrico Forcella won the second bronze medal for Venezuela. This athlete born in Monaco and naturalized Venezuelan obtained third place in the short rifle discipline.
Forcella participated specifically in the short rifle shooting competition in the prone position at 50 meters. Three years later, the athlete won the gold medal in the same category but at the Pan American Games in São Paulo.
Mexico 1968: Francisco “Morochito” Rodriguez
Venezuelan boxer Francisco “Morochito” Rodríguez won Venezuela’s first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968.
Rodriguez excelled in the junior flyweight category. He beat American Harlan Marbley to reach the final and defeated South Korean Yong-Ju Jee to win the gold medal and achieve a historic moment for his country.
Montreal 1976: Pedro Gamarro
Zulia native Pedro Gamarro won Venezuela’s first silver medal and the country’s second boxing medal at the Olympic Games.
Gamarro, known as the Tren de Machiques, competed in the welterweight category (-67 kg) and lost in the final once morest German Jochen Bachfeld. However, the boxer was received in the country as a national hero following his participation in the Montreal games.
Moscow 1980: Bernardo Piñango
Boxer Bernardo Piñango won the second silver medal in Venezuela’s history at the Olympic Games in 1980. He stood out in the bantamweight (-54 kg) competition at the edition held that year in Moscow, Russia.
The Caracas native fought once morest five opponents in 10 days of competition. He contested the final once morest Cuban Juan Bautista Hernández and obtained second place on that occasion.
Los Angeles 1984: Rafael Vidal, Omar Catarí and Marcelino Bolívar
In the 1984 edition of Los Angeles, Venezuela won more than one Olympic medal for the first time in its history. That year, athletes Rafael Vidal, Omar Catarí and Marcelino Bolívar won bronze medals in their categories.
Swimmer Rafael Vidal, 20 years old at the time, finished third in the 200-meter butterfly competition. He was followed by Australian Jon Sieben (gold) and German Michael Gross (silver).
Omar Catarí, a boxer from Lara, won the bronze medal in the featherweight category (-57 kg). He fought four matches in the Los Angeles edition and fought for third place once morest an Algerian boxer. He participated once more in the following edition, but was left off the podium.
Finally, Venezuela’s list of winners also included Marcelino Bolívar’s bronze medal in boxing in the flyweight (-48 kg) category following beating Filipino Nelson Jamili.
Barcelona 1992: Arlindo Gouveia
Arlindo Gouveia won a gold medal for Venezuela at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Gouveia was the Olympic champion in the -54 kg category, following defeating Indonesian Dirc Richard Talumewo.
Athens 2004: Adriana Carmona and Israel Rubio
Venezuela won two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in the disciplines of taekwondo and weightlifting.
The medals went to Adriana Carmona in the -67 kg women’s taekwondo category and to Israel Rubio in the 62 kg weightlifting category.
Beijing 2008: Dalia Contreras
The fighter Dalia Contreras added another bronze medal to Venezuela’s record in the 2008 edition of Beijing.
Contreras managed to get onto the podium in the taekwondo discipline in the -49 kg category.
London 2012: Ruben Limardo
At the 2012 London Olympics, Venezuela’s gold medal drought was broken with the victory of Rubén Limardo in fencing.
Limardo achieved Olympic glory on 1 August 2012 following defeating Norway’s Bartosz Piasecki in the individual épée competition.
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Yulimar Rojas, Yoel Finol and Stefany Hernandez
The Venezuelan delegation returned with three medals following the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic GamesAthlete Yulimar Rojas and boxer Yoel Finol won silver medals and cyclist Stefany Hernández won a bronze.
Rojas finished second in the women’s triple jump competition, behind Colombian Caterine Ibargüen. Finol, meanwhile, won the silver medal in boxing in the flyweight (-52 kg) category. She had originally won bronze, but was assigned another medal following the silver winner, Russian Misha Aloian, was disqualified for doping.
Finally, cyclist Stefany Hernández took third place in the BMX race competition behind Colombian Mariana Pajón (gold) and American Alise Post (silver).
Tokyo 2020: Yulimar Rojas, Julio Mayora, Keydomar Vallenilla and Daniel Dhers
In the Tokyo 2020 edition, Venezuela won four Olympic medals: one gold and three silver. Yulimar Rojas She was crowned Olympic champion in the triple jump competition women’s event and also set a world record during the competition with a jump of 15.67 metres. The Venezuelan broke her own record a year later with a jump of 15.74 metres at the World Indoor Athletics Championships.
The first silver medallist of this edition was Julio Mayora in the 73 kg weightlifting category, followed by weightlifter Keydomar Vallenilla in the 96 kg category. Finally, Venezuela’s list of winners was closed with Dhers’ silver medal in the men’s BMX freestyle category.
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2024-07-19 19:45:59
