Colombia (COL)

Colombia first competed at the 1932 Olympic Games, represented by a lone athlete, marathon runner Jorge Perry (besides Emirto de Lima in the Art Competitions). The country first formed a National Olympic Committee (NOC) only in 1936, and the NOC was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1939. Colombia has since competed at every Olympics, with the exception of 1952. Colombian athletes have won 34 Olympic medals, with five of them in gold.

The first ever gold medal for Colombia was won by María Isabel Urrutia in women’s heavyweight weightlifting in 2000. The most successful Colombian Olympian has been Mariana Pajón who won the women’s BMX cycling in 2012, as well as in 2016, and she would finish second at Tokyo 2020. Two other Colombian athletes have won two medals and one gold: weightlifter Óscar Figueroa won silver in 2012 and gold in 2016 (both times in the featherweight division) and triple jumper Caterine Ibargüen also won silver in 2012 and gold in 2016.

Colombia competed at the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in 2010, competing again at the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Colombia had only one Winter Olympian in 2010, Cynthia Denzler in Alpine skiing. In 2018, the nation was represented by four athletes: Michael Poettoz in Alpine skiing, Sebastián Uprimny in cross-country skiing, and two speedskaters (Laura Gómez and Pedro Causil). Poettoz and Gómez competed again in 2022, this time accompanied by cross-country skier Carlos Quintana.

More recent evidence has indicated that Francis Henriquez de Zubiria, who competed in 1900 tug-of-war, was actually a Colombian national, making the nation’s first appearance 32 years earlier than usually considered.

In 1946, the Olympic Committee of Colombia was awarded with the Olympic Cup.