Olympic history of Venezuela

VEN

2	3	10

Venezuela , whose NOK , the Comité Olímpico Venezolano , was founded in 1935, has been sending athletes to the Summer Olympics since 1948 and to the Winter Olympics since 1998. Young athletes from Venezuela took part in both of the youth summer games held so far.

Overview

Summer games

Rubén Limardo, 2012 Olympic fencing champion

Triple jumper Yulimar Rojas at the 2016 award ceremony

When Venezuela made its Olympic debut in London in 1948, a cyclist was the only athlete to form the country's first Olympic team. Julio César León was Venezuela's first Olympian on August 7, 1948 when he competed in the sprint. The first women in Venezuela to take part in the Olympic Games were the foil fencers Gerda Muller and Ursula Selle on July 26, 1952.

In addition to cycling and fencing, Venezuelan athletes were also in the sports of athletics, boxing, diving, swimming, shooting and wrestling (from 1952), horse riding (from 1956), sailing and weightlifting (since 1960), judo (since 1964), soccer (since 1980), table tennis (since 1988), basketball (since 1992), tennis (since 1996), gymnastics, taekwondo and triathlon (since 2000), archery, canoeing, rowing, softball and volleyball (since 2008), beach volleyball (since 2012) and golf (since 2016) represented.

When he took part in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki for the second time, athlete Arnoldo Devonish won the first medal for his country when he jumped to the bronze medal in the triple jump. In 1960 in Rome, the marksman Enrico Forcella won Venezuela's second Olympic medal when he won the bronze medal with the small bore rifle in prone position. In athletics, the men's 100-meter relay ran in fifth place. In 1964 in Tokyo, it reached sixth place.

In 1968 in Mexico City the first Olympic victory for Venezuela could be celebrated. The boxer Francisco Rodríguez won the gold medal in the light flyweight division. Pedro Gamarro won silver in welterweight boxing in 1976. Bernardo Piñango also won silver in 1980 in the bantamweight division. 1984 in Los Angeles the boxers won two bronze medals by Marcelino Bolívar in the light flyweight and Omar Catarí in the featherweight. Another bronze medal went to the swimmer Rafael Vidal over 200 meters dolphin. He finished fourth over 100 meters. Alberto Mestre also reached two finals in freestyle. He finished sixth over 100 meters and fifth over 200 meters. Sports shooter Hector de Lima took 7th place with the free pistol.

It was not until 1996 that a Venezuelan was able to qualify for a final round. The swimmer Francisco Sánchez reached the final of the 50 meter freestyle and finished seventh. Over 100 meters he finished 8th. In 2000 in Sydney, the cyclist Daniela Larreal finished 8th in the sprint. After a break of 20 years, medals were won again in Athens in 2004. Weightlifter Israel José Rubio won bronze in the featherweight division, Julio César Luña was fifth in the middle heavyweight division. The Taekwondoi Adriana Carmona also won bronze in the heavyweight division, making her the first woman in Venezuela to receive an Olympic medal. Daniela Larreal was able to repeat her eighth place in the sprint. In fencing, Silvio Fernández achieved 6th place with the sword.

2008 in Athens Taekwondoin Dalia Contreras won bronze in the flyweight. Epee fencer Silvio Fernández was ninth in the individual ranking and sixth with the team. In open water swimming, Erwin Maldonado was tenth over 10 kilometers, Andreina Pinto ninth. The gymnast José Luis Fuentes reached the device finals on the pommel horse and came in eighth.

In 2012 the sword fencer Rubén Limardo won the second Venezuelan gold medal in his Olympic history. Silvio Fernández came in sixth. In athletics, the men's 400-meter relay reached the final and finished seventh. Swimmer Andreina Pinto qualified for the 800 meter freestyle final and finished eighth. The weightlifter Junior Sánchez finished fifth in the lightweight category. There were three medal wins in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. In athletics, Yulimar Rojas won silver in the triple jump. The boxer Yoel Finol won bronze in the flyweight, the cyclist Stefany Hernández on the BMX. The gymnast Jessica López was seventh in the all-around competition. She reached 6th place on the uneven bars.

Winter games

1998 in Nagano for the first time a Venezuelan winter athlete took part in the Olympic Winter Games. Luge Iginia Boccalandro was Venezuela's first female winter Olympic athlete on February 10, 1998. 2002 in Salt Lake City started with Werner Hoeger , his son Christopher Hoeger and Julio César Camache for the first time also Venezuelan men at the winter games. All three took part in tobogganing. Werner Hoeger was the only Venezuelan participant in Turin in 2006. Venezuela did not compete in Vancouver in 2010. In 2014 in Sochi, Antonio Pardo, an alpine ski racer took part.

Youth games

Robeilys Peinado, silver at the 2014 Youth Summer Games

21 young athletes, eleven boys and ten girls, competed in boxing, diving, fencing, gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, triathlon, weight lifting and wrestling at the first 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore . Five medals were won. The swimmer Cristian Quintero won silver in the 200 meter freestyle, the boxer Samuel Zapata silver in the welterweight division. Cristian Quintero won bronze in the 400 meter freestyle, boxer Fradimil Macayo in featherweight and weightlifter Génesis Rodríguez in flyweight. The judoka Pedro Pineda won bronze in the mixed teams as a member of the Cairo team. This medal is not included in Venezuela's balance sheet. Further placements were achieved by diver Robert Páez with 5th place in high diving, swimmer Cristian Quintero with 4th place over 100 meters freestyle and 8th place over 50 meters freestyle, weightlifter Juan Prado with 6th place in flyweight and freestyle wrestler Andry Davila with 4th place in Flyweight and Oriannys Segura with 5th place, also in the flyweight.

In 2014 in Nanjing , 59 athletes, 22 boys and 37 girls, competed in athletics, basketball, archery, beach volleyball, cycling, soccer, golf, judo, modern pentathlon, sailing, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting and wrestling Begin. Eight medals were won, including six silver and two bronze medals. Silver went to the athlete Robeilys Peinado in the pole vault, the beach volleyball team for the boys, the soccer team for the girls after a 5-0 defeat against China, the swimmer Carlos Claverie over 50 and 200 meters chest and the freestyle wrestler Anthony Montero in the middleweight division. Bronze went to the judoka Elvismar Rodríguez in the heavyweight division and the swimmer Carlos Claverie over 100 meters chest. The athlete Josneyber Ramírez achieved placements in the 100-meter run and the weightlifter Wilson Magallanes with 5th place in the bantamweight and Yorlis Zabala with 4th place in the lightweight.

Art competitions

The artist Alberto Egea submitted his work The Divers to the Olympic art competitions in 1932, but was unable to place.

IOC members

In 1981 journalist and former rider Flor Isava Fonseca was elected an IOC member. Besides the Finnish athlete Pirjo Häggman, she was the first woman to become a member of the IOC. She was also one of the first women to serve on the IOC's Board of Directors from 1990 to 1994. Her membership ended in 2001 for reasons of age, and she has been an honorary member since 2002.

Overview of the participants

Summer games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports																										Medals				rank
	total	Men	Women																															Total
1896-1936	not participated
1948	1	1	0	Julio César León	1
1952	38	36	2	Arnoldo Devonish	4th	10	7th	5	1	1	7th	3																					1	1	43
1956	22nd	22nd	0	Rafael Romero	4th		4th	2			9		3
1960	36	31	5	Rafael Romero	5	8th	7th	3		1	6th	2		2	2																		1	1	44
1964	16	15th	1	Téodoro Capriles			6th			2	4th			3		1
1968	23	23	0			4th	6th	4th			5			4th																	1			1	30th
1972	23	20th	3	Francisco Rodríguez			10	7th		4th	2
1976	32	23	9	Manuel Luna	6th		1	10	1	12						2																1		1	35
1980	37	37	0	Antonio Esparragoza	5		1	9		3	2				1		16															1		1	33
1984	26th	25th	1	William Wuycke	2	2	3	3	1	7th	5			2		1																	3	3	41
1988	17th	15th	2	Elizabeth Popper	4th			6th		1			1		1	2		2
1992	26th	22nd	4th	María Elena Guisti	4th			3	1	1		1			3	3			10
1996	39	34	5	Francisco Sánchez	6th	4th	4th	2	1	7th		6th		1	1	3		1		3
2000	50	36	14th	Adriana Carmona	5	1	6th	4th	3	7th	2	2		1	2	8th		2		4th	1	1	1
2004	48	33	15th	Julio César Luna	3	4th	5	7th	1	4th	1	2		1	3	9		2		1		4th	1										2	2	68
2008	108	57	51	Maria Soto	4th	8th	4th	6th	1	13	1	3	1	3	7th	7th		1		1	2	4th		1	3	1	15th	22nd					1	1	86
2012	68	42	26th	Fabiola Ramos	12	6th	12	3	3	10	1	7th		2	3	3		1			1			3					2		1			1	50
2016	85	61	24	Rubén Limardo	8th	7th	13	8th	2	6th	1	9	2	2	4th	1		1	12		1	1		2		1			2	1		1	2	3	65
total																															2	3	10	15th	74

Winter games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports		Medals
	total	m	w							total	rank
1924-1994	not participated
1998	1	0	1	Iginia Boccalandro	1
2002	4th	3	1	Iginia Boccalandro	4th
2006	1	1	0	Werner Hoeger	1
2010	not participated
2014	1	1	0	Antonio Pardo		1
2018	not participated
total							0	0	0	0	-

Youth Summer Games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports																			Medals
	total	m	w																								total	rank
2010	21st	11	10	Samuel Zapata	2	2	1	2	1	4th	3	2	2	2											2	3	5	63
2014	59	22nd	37						2	4th		2	2	3	2	8th	8th	2	2	18th	2	1	2		6th	2	8th	53
total																								0	8th	5	13	70

Youth Winter Games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports	Medals
	total	m	w						total	rank
2012-2016	not participated
total						0	0	0	0	-

Medalist

Gold medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline	annotation
Francisco Rodríguez	1968 Mexico City	Boxing	Light flyweight	first Olympic victory
Rubén Limardo	2012 London	fencing	Epee single

Silver medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline	annotation
Pedro Gamarro	1976 Montreal	Boxing	Welterweight
Bernardo Piñango	1980 Moscow	Boxing	Bantamweight
Yulimar Rojas	2016 Rio de Janeiro	athletics	Triple jump

Bronze medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline	annotation
Arnoldo Devonish	1952 Helsinki	athletics	Triple jump	first medal win
Enrico Forcella	1960 Rome	shoot	Small caliber rifle lying
Marcelino Bolívar	1984 Los Angeles	Boxing	Light flyweight
Omar Catarí	1984 Los Angeles	Boxing	Featherweight
Rafael Vidal	1984 Los Angeles	swim	200 meters dolphin
Israel José Rubio	2004 Athens	Weightlifting	Featherweight
Adriana Carmona	2004 Athens	Taekwondo	Heavyweight
Dalia Contreras	2008 Beijing	Taekwondo	Flyweight
Yoel Finol	2016 Rio de Janeiro	Boxing	Flyweight
Stefany Hernández	2016 Rio de Janeiro	Cycling	BMX

Medals by sport

sport	gold	silver	bronze	total
Boxing	1	2	3	6th
fencing	1	0	0	1
athletics	0	1	1	2
Taekwondo	0	0	2	2
Weightlifting	0	0	1	1
Cycling	0	0	1	1
shoot	0	0	1	1
swim	0	0	1	1
total	2	3	10	15th

Medal table

Olympic games

				total	rank
Olympic Summer Games	2	3	10	15th	74
winter Olympics	0	0	0	0	-
total	2	3	10	15th	74

Youth Olympic Games

				total	rank
Youth Olympic Summer Games	0	8th	5	13	70
Youth Olympic Winter Games	0	0	0	0	-
total	0	8th	5	13	74

Web links

• Venezuela in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Venezuela on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)