Venezuela at the Olympics

Venezuela at the
Olympics
IOC codeVEN
NOCVenezuelan Olympic Committee
Websitecov.com.ve (in Spanish)
Medals
Ranked 82nd
Gold
3
Silver
7
Bronze
9
Total
19
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

Venezuela first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Venezuela has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1998. The Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) was created in 1935.

The first Venezuelan athlete to participate in the Olympic Games was cyclist Julio César León in London 1948. In 1968 Francisco Rodríguez earned the first gold medal. The first Venezuelan to participate in the Winter Olympic Games was Iginia Boccalandro, in the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Venezuelan athletes have won a total of nineteen medals, all at Summer Games, with boxing (six medals; one gold, three silver, two bronze) being the most successful sport. The most successful Olympian is Yulimar Rojas, Venezuela's only multi-medalist in a regular Games, with one gold and one silver in women's triple jump.

History

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The first Venezuelan athlete to participate in the Olympic Games was Trujillo cyclist Julio César León in London 1948.[1]

In the 1952 Summer Olympics, Asnoldo Devonish earned a bronze medal which became the first Olympic medal in the country's sports history. In 1968 Francisco Rodríguez earned the first gold medal; obtaining silver and bronze medals in various games until 1984. The first Venezuelan to participate in the Winter Olympic Games was Iginia Boccalandro in Nagano 1998. Rafael Vidal was bronze medalist in the 200 m butterfly in swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Arlindo Gouveia won a gold medal in taekwondo in Barcelona 1992, but at that time the sport only participated as an exhibition. That medal, along with the bronze medal won by Adriana Carmona in the same sport, are counted as official by the Venezuelan Taekwondo Federation since 2018.[2]

Athens 2004

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Venezuela participated in the 2004 Athens Games with 48 athletes, winning two bronze medals with Adriana Carmona and Israel Rubio in taekwondo and weightlifting.[3]

Turin 2006

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Venezuela participated in the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics thanks to Werner Hoeger in the luge specialty.

Beijing 2008

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In the 2008 Beijing Games, Venezuela became the only country (only behind the host China) to double the number of athletes qualified with respect to the previous games, going from 48 athletes in Athens 2004 to 108 athletes in 2008, making it the delegation with the greatest progress with respect to the last games. For this occasion, Venezuela qualified for the first time 3 team sports, men's and women's volleyball and the women's softball team. Previously, only in 1980 in Moscow (soccer) and in Barcelona 1992 (basketball) had Venezuela been able to qualify team sports.[4] In these games, Venezuelan Dalia Contreras won the bronze medal in Taekwondo in the 49 kilograms category, after defeating Kenyan Mildred Alango 1–0.[5]

London 2012

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Fencer Rubén Limardo wins the third gold medal for the nation. Limardo also becomes the first Latin American to win a gold medal in fencing since 1904, over 100 years ago.

Sochi 2014

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Venezuela achieves its 4th participation in the 2004 Winter Olympic Games thanks to the athlete Antonio Pardo Andretta in the alpine skiing specialty.

Río 2016

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In these Olympic Games, Venezuela almost achieved a number of athletes almost equal to that of Beijing 2008, and even achieved a better record of medals than in those Olympic Games, with a total of three medals in the categories of boxing, cycling and athletics by the Venezuelan representatives: Yoel Finol, Yulimar Rojas and Stefany Hernández, thus completing their participation in these Olympic Games with one bronze medal and two silver medals.

Tokyo 2020

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In these Olympic Games, Venezuela competes with 44 athletes being its smallest delegation since 1988, obtaining 4 medals; 3 silver medals won by Julio Mayora and Keydomar Vallenilla in weightlifting and Daniel Dhers in BMX freestyle and a gold by Yulimar Rojas in triple jump, who broke the world and Olympic record in the history of this category of athletics in the Olympic Games, with a mark of 15. 67 meters, in addition to becoming the first woman to receive a gold medal in the history of the Olympic Games for Venezuela.

Medal tables

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Medals by Summer Games

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Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
Kingdom of Greece 1896 Athens did not participate
France 1900 Paris
United States 1904 St. Louis
United Kingdom 1908 London
Sweden 1912 Stockholm
Belgium 1920 Antwerp
France 1924 Paris
Netherlands 1928 Amsterdam
United States 1932 Los Angeles
Nazi Germany 1936 Berlin
United Kingdom 1948 London 1 0 0 0 0
Finland 1952 Helsinki 38 0 0 1 1 43
Australia 1956 Melbourne 19 0 0 0 0
Italy 1960 Rome 17 0 0 1 1 44
Japan 1964 Tokyo 16 0 0 0 0
Mexico 1968 Mexico City 36 1 0 0 1 30
West Germany 1972 Munich 26 0 0 0 0
Canada 1976 Montreal 36 0 1 0 1 35
Soviet Union 1980 Moscow 48 0 1 0 1 33
United States 1984 Los Angeles 26 0 0 3 3 41
South Korea 1988 Seoul 18 0 0 0 0
Spain 1992 Barcelona 36 0 0 0 0[A]
United States 1996 Atlanta 39 0 0 0 0
Australia 2000 Sydney 51 0 0 0 0
Greece 2004 Athens 48 0 0 2 2 68
China 2008 Beijing 110 0 0 1 1 86
United Kingdom 2012 London 69 1 0 0 1 50
Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro 87 0 2 1 3 65
Japan 2020 Tokyo 44 1 3 0 4 46
France 2024 Paris 33 0 0 0 0
United States 2028 Los Angeles future event
Australia 2032 Brisbane
Total 3 7 9 19 82

Medals by Winter Games

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Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
France 1924 Chamonix did not participate
Switzerland 1928 St. Moritz
United States 1932 Lake Placid
Nazi Germany 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Switzerland 1948 St. Moritz
Norway 1952 Oslo
Italy 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo
United States 1960 Squaw Valley
Austria 1964 Innsbruck
France 1968 Grenoble
Japan 1972 Sapporo
Austria 1976 Innsbruck
United States 1980 Lake Placid
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1984 Sarajevo
Canada 1988 Calgary
France 1992 Albertville
Norway 1994 Lillehammer
Japan 1998 Nagano 1 0 0 0 0
United States 2002 Salt Lake City 4 0 0 0 0
Italy 2006 Turin 1 0 0 0 0
Canada 2010 Vancouver did not participate
Russia 2014 Sochi 1 0 0 0 0
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang did not participate
China 2022 Beijing
Italy 2026 Milano Cortina future event
France 2030 French Alps
United States 2034 Salt Lake City
Total 0 0 0 0

Medals by Summer Sport

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Sports  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
 Boxing 1 3 2 6 33
 Athletics 1 1 1 3 62
 Fencing 1 0 0 1 27
 Weightlifting 0 2 1 3 50
 Cycling 0 1 1 2 37
 Taekwondo 0 0 2 2 35
 Shooting 0 0 1 1 68
 Swimming 0 0 1 1 56
Total 3 7 9 19 75

Medals by Gender

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Gender  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total
Men 2 6 6 14
Women 1 1 3 5
Mixed 0 0 0 0
Total 3 7 9 19

List of medalists

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Summer Olympics

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Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Bronze Asnoldo Devonish Finland 1952 Helsinki Athletics Men's triple jump
 Bronze Enrico Forcella Italy 1960 Rome Shooting Men's 50-metre rifle prone
 Gold Francisco Rodríguez Mexico 1968 Mexico City Boxing Men's light flyweight
 Silver Pedro Gamarro Canada 1976 Montreal Boxing Men's welterweight
 Silver Bernardo Piñango Soviet Union 1980 Moscow Boxing Men's bantamweight
 Bronze Marcelino Bolívar United States 1984 Los Angeles Boxing Men's light flyweight
 Bronze Omar Catari United States 1984 Los Angeles Boxing Men's featherweight
 Bronze Rafael Vidal United States 1984 Los Angeles Swimming Men's 200-metre butterfly
 Bronze Adriana Carmona Greece 2004 Athens Taekwondo Women's +67 kg
 Bronze Israel Jose Rubio Greece 2004 Athens Weightlifting Men's 62 kg
 Bronze Dalia Contreras China 2008 Beijing Taekwondo Women's 49 kg
 Gold Rubén Limardo United Kingdom 2012 London Fencing Men's épée
 Silver Yulimar Rojas Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro Athletics Women's triple jump
 Silver Yoel Finol Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro Boxing Men's flyweight
 Bronze Stefany Hernández Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro Cycling Women's BMX
 Gold Yulimar Rojas Japan 2020 Tokyo Athletics Women's triple jump
 Silver Julio Mayora Japan 2020 Tokyo Weightlifting Men's 73 kg
 Silver Keydomar Vallenilla Japan 2020 Tokyo Weightlifting Men's 96 kg
 Silver Daniel Dhers Japan 2020 Tokyo Cycling Men's BMX freestyle

Multiple medalists

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Athlete Sport Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
Yulimar Rojas  Athletics 2016, 2020 1 1 0 2

Most successful Olympian progression

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This table shows how the designation of most successful Venezuelan Olympian has progressed over time.

Athlete Sport Date Gender 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Total
Asnoldo Devonish  Athletics 23 July 1952 M 0 0 1 1
Enrico Forcella  Shooting 1960 M 0 0 1 1
Francisco Rodríguez  Boxing October 1968 M 1 0 0 1
Rubén Limardo  Fencing 2012 M 1 0 0 1
Yulimar Rojas  Athletics 1 August 2021 F 1 1 0 2

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Press Dpto., British Embassy in Caracas. "Embassy invites first Venezuelan Olympian to return to London". news. Press Dpto. British Embassy in Caracas. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  2. ^ "COI reconoce medallas olímpicas venezolanas de Barcelona 1992". El Nacional. 2018.
  3. ^ "Confirmado bronce para Israel Rubio, primera medalla olímpica para Venezuela en 20 años". rnv.gob.ve. Radio Nacional de Venezuela. 22 August 2004. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Venezuela cuenta con 109 atletas para Beijing 2008". rnv.gob.ve. Radio Nacional de Venezuela. 20 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 February 2006. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Taekwondista venezolana Dalia Contreras gana medalla de bronce en Beijing". abn.info.ve. ABN. 20 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Arlindo I. Gouveia Colina". Olympics.com. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Adriana Carmona Gutiérrez". Olympics.com. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  8. ^ "COI reconoce medallas olímpicas venezolanas de Barcelona 1992". ElNacional. Retrieved 9 August 2021.

See also

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