Medellín, Colombia – With the Olympics starting in Paris last week, Latin America has over 1,000 athletes representing 21 nations, with the biggest delegations being Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, respectively.
Many of the athletes have already marked significant milestones for sport in the region. For one, Brazil’s women Olympians outnumber their male counterparts for the first time ever, with 55%, as per Latin America Reports’ Tabata Viapiana. Similarly, Colombia’s women athletes account for 57% of the delegation.
Latin America Reports will be summarizing the main triumphs for the region in the Paris 2024 Olympics every week. The information has been compiled directly from the Olympics’ official website.
Argentina
Argentina’s soccer team was defeated by Morocco on the first day of the Olympics, July 24, with a final score of 2-1. After the referee ordered 15 minutes of overtime because of several disruptions, Argentina scored a tie-making goal.
However, the match was disrupted by the Moroccan team’s fans when they began throwing bottles and invading the pitch. Over an hour later, the match was resumed, and Argentina’s second goal was annulled, according to the BBC.
Nonetheless, other Argentinian athletes have made significant advancements. Julián Gutiérrez became the country’s first finalist, being the best scorer (631.7 points) in the 10m Air Rifle Men’s category, albeit tying with China’s Lihao Shengon.
In rowing Evelyn Silvestro and Sonia Baluzzo came in third in Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls, going straight to the semifinals. Their counterparts in Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls, Alejandro Colomino and Pedro Dickson, scored first, and will also be competing in the semifinals.
Brazil
Brazil shined in judo, with Willian Lima’s silver medal in the Men’s -66kg category and Larissa Pimenta’s bronze in Women’s -52kg. For the country’s second bronze medal in Paris 2024, Rayssa Leal, who became Brazil’s youngest-ever Olympic medalist in Tokyo 2020 at only 13 years old, scored 253.37 points in Women’s Street Skateboarding event.
Similarly, Kelvin Hoefler qualified for the final of the Men’s Street Skateboarding discipline, and Rafaela Silva competed for the bronze medal in the judo Women’s -57kg category. Neither won, but came close to scoring more medals for Brazil.
In artistic gymnastics, Brazil qualified fourth for the team final. Rebeca Andrade, the country’s top gymnast and Team USA’s Simone Biles’ main competitor, qualified second in the Women’s All-Around Artistic Gymnastics category, just behind Biles. Andrade also qualified for the finals in Women’s Vault, Beam and Floor.
Furthermore, the country had its first woman athlete in 76 years in the Women’s 400m Freestyle Swimming category. Maria Fernanda Costa finished seventh, with a time of 4:03:53.
For beach volleyball, the country’s four pairs won their first matches. In surf, all six Brazilian surfers advanced from the first elimination round.
Colombia
Seventeen-year-old gymnast Ángel Barajas qualified for the final in the Men’s Horizontal Bar category, becoming the first Colombian finalist in Artistic Gymnastics, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. Barajas was also the only Latin American to earn a spot in the discipline’s top eight positions, trailing behind athletes from China, Japan and Serbia.
With a mostly-female delegation, Colombia’s women have also produced great results. Gymnast Luisa Blanco qualified for the Women’s All-Around Artistic Gymnastics final, becoming the first Colombian woman to do so with a score of 51.698.
María Camila Osorio also qualified to the third round of Women’s Singles Tennis, Ingrit Valencia for the eighth finals in Women’s 50kg Boxing with a 5-0 score, and the women’s soccer team leads Group A, alongside France, with three points.
Finally, Queen Saray Villegas came in third in the qualifiers for Women’s BMX Freestyle, after Team USA’s Perris Benegas and China’s Jiaqi Sun.
Mexico
After Brazil, Mexico is the second Latin American country to have secured a medal in Paris 2024, with Alejandra Valencia, Ana Paula Vázquez and Ángela Ruíz’s bronze in the Women’s Archery Team sport. Ruiz celebrated her 18th birthday this past July 28, making her one of the youngest athletes to compete in Paris 2024.
On Monday July 29, Kevin Berlin and Randal Willars finished fourth in Men’s Synchronized 10m Platform Diving, only 3.48 points away from bronze. However, Alan Cleland, the current surfing world champion, will be competing in the round of sixteen for Men’s Surfing as the first Mexican representing his country in this sport.
In rowing, Mexico was also a strong competitor. Miguel Carballo and Alexis López advanced to the semifinals of Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls after placing third in the category with a time of 6:47.60, just behind Belgium and Ukraine.
Peru
Rower Adriana Sanguinetti advanced to the quarter finals in the Women’s Single Sculls discipline, becoming the first Peruvian to qualify for the quarterfinals in an Olympic Games. Twins Alessia and Valeria Palacios also went to repechage in the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls.
Alonso Correa also directly qualified for the third round of the surfing competition, surpassing world-class rivals in his initial Heat with a score of 14-33.
Other countries
Chile came in first in Men’s Doubles Tennis, represented by Nicolás Jarry and Alejandro Tabilo, in addition to coming in fourth in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls repechages with representation from César Abaroa and Eryin Sanhueza.
Costa Rica came in first in Round 1 of Women’s Shortboard Surf category, represented by Brisa Hennessy, and third in Men’s 400m Freestyle Swimming with representation from Alberto Vega, who timed 4:03.14, just under Morocco and Guyana.
Other notable achievements include Cuba’s third place in the Men’s Single Sculls Rowing Heats, with representation from Reidy Cardona Blanco and the country’s triumph of the Men’s Doubles Beach Volleyball team over Team USA in the preliminary phase.
Ecuador shone in Men’s Super Heavyweight boxing with Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala’s triumph in the preliminary phase against Brazil, as well as in the Women’s Lightweight Boxing preliminaries with María José Palacios.
Venezuela showed promise in swimming and fencing. Through Alfonso Mestre, the country finished sixth in the Third Heat of the 400m Freestyle, and 18-year-old María Victoria Yegres Cottin came in sixth as well in Women’s 200m Freestyle, with a time of 2:00.66. Additionally, Gabriel Lugo won 15-11 against Canadian Nicolas Zhang on the 64th fencing table.
