Martín Emilio Rodríguez

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Martín Emilio Rodríguez Road cycling
Martín Emilio Rodríguez (1975)
Martín Emilio Rodríguez (1975)
To person
Full name Martín Emilio Rodríguez Gutiérrez
Nickname Cochise
Date of birth April 14, 1942
nation ColombiaColombia Colombia
discipline Railway (endurance) / road
End of career 1980
Most important successes
UCI track world championships for amateurs
1971 World Champion - Individual pursuit
Giro d'Italia
1973 a stage
1975 a stage
Last updated: April 5, 2019

Martín Emilio "Cochise" Rodríguez Gutiérrez (born April 14, 1942 in Medellín ) is a former Colombian cyclist who competed on road and track . On the train he was a specialist in tracking; In 1971 he became the amateur world champion in the single pursuit and thus the first cycling world champion in his country and Latin America. He is considered Colombia's most successful cyclist of the 20th century.

Athletic career

Martín Emilio Rodríguez came from a poor background. When he was a few days old, his father died. He had to support his single mother from an early age by selling lemonade and newspapers and delivering medicines by bike. He started cycling at the age of 15, initially on a women's bike.

In 1958 Rodríguez contested his first race. In later cycling races he started out as an amateur . In 1961 he finished second in the Clásico RCN , which was held for the first time, and in 1962 he finished second in the overall ranking of the Vuelta a Colombia . The following year he won these two tours. Overall, he won the Vuelta a Colombia four times in the course of his career (1963, 1964, 1966 and 1967), the Venezuelan tour Vuelta al Táchira three times (1966, 1968, 1971). In 1965 he was also the Colombian road racing champion . In 1967 Cochise Rodriguez finished second at the Vuelta Mexico . He also won several medals at various continental sports games: He belonged to the 1961 team, which at the Bolivarian Games , the team time trial won. In 1966 he won the Central American and Caribbean Games in road races and in the team time trial, and in 1970 again in the team time trial. Between 1961 and 1971 he won eight gold medals in the single pursuit on the track at these sports games, including twice at the Pan American Games (1967 and 1971). In 1967 he also set a new Pan-American record (4: 58.31 minutes) in the pursuit over 4000 meters in Winnipeg .

In 1964 and 1968 Rodríguez started at the Olympic Games in road races and in the single pursuit; in his second participation in 1968 he finished ninth in both disciplines. In 1971 he became world champion in the pursuit of amateurs in Varese, Italy, with a new world record time of 4:53:98 minutes. On October 7, 1971, he improved the existing amateur hour record of Jacques Anquetil to 47.566 km. His next goal was the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . However , photos were leaked to the IOC showing Rodriguez wearing a jersey with advertising. This jersey bore the name of the sponsor who financed the preparations for the world hour record of the Danish cyclist Ole Ritter , and Rodriguez supported Ritter in training. He was then excluded from starting in Munich because he was no longer an amateur. The best-known quote from Rodriguez has come down to us from this period: "In Colombia, more people die of envy than of cancer."

Then Martín Emilio Rodríguez turned professional and started for three years for the Italian team Bianchi . In 1973 he won the Trofeo Baracchi together with Felice Gimondi . In 1973 and 1975 he decided one stage of the Giro d'Italia for himself. In 1975 he was the first Latin American to take part in the Tour de France and was 27th overall.

After his only start on the tour, Rodríguez, later father of three children, went back to Colombia at the request of his then pregnant wife and continued to compete in cycling races in his home country until 1980 as an amateur.

Professional

After the final end of his sports career, Martín Emilio Rodríguez was entrusted with various offices: In 1983, President Belisario Betancur appointed him Colombian cultural attaché in Italy. From 2008 to 2011 he acted as an advisor to the City of Medellín . At the beginning of the 2010s he was in financial trouble. He had had to forego paying his pension because he had a better-paid contract with Coldeportes , the Colombian state sports sponsorship. Since he did not meet Coldeportes' expectations , the salary payments to him were stopped. Because of these problems, "the great Cochise" has "lost his sense of humor", according to the Spanish website KienyKe.com.

Honors

In 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971 Martín Emilio Rodríguez was named Colombia's “Sportsman of the Year”. In 1999 he was voted "Colombian Sportsman of the Century". In his hometown Medellín, the local cycle track was named in his honor "Velódromo Martín Emilio Cochise Rodríguez".

Nickname

Rodríguez got his nickname "Cochise" in his youth because he was a fan of the film The Broken Arrow , which tells of the fate of the Apaches under their chief Cochise . In 2011, the nickname “Cochise” was officially entered on his ID card.

successes

“Cochise” Rodríguez signs autographs at the Vuelta a Colombia 2012

Street

1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1975
1976
1979

train

1961
1962
1965
1967
1969
1970
1971

Web links

Commons : Martín Emilio Rodríguez  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Martín Emilio 'Cochise' Rodríguez, todo un personaje en Colombia. In: eluniversal.com.co. Retrieved April 5, 2019 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Echoes' Cycling Biography # 7: Martin Emilio 'Cochise' Rodriguez Gutierrez. In: Velorooms. March 13, 2014, accessed April 6, 2019 .
  3. ↑ "Todos hemos hecho historia": Cochise Rodríguez. In: El Espectador. Retrieved April 5, 2019 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Ricardo Silva Romero: morirse de envidia (Ayuntamiento, Oslo). In: El Pais. December 14, 2016, Retrieved April 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ “Cochise” desesperado por su ruina económica. In: kienyke.com. August 6, 2013, Retrieved April 6, 2019 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Jesús Miguel de la Hoz: Me hubiera gustado competir en esta época: Cochise. August 3, 2015, Retrieved April 5, 2019 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Rodríguez, Martín Emilio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Martín Emilio (full name); Rodríguez, Cochise (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Colombian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Medellin