The Nicaraguan athlete Elian Ortega achieved a historic triumph for the national sport in the Central American and Caribbean Games. The young athlete won a gold medal in taekwondo, in the Traditional Poomsae modality, and a silver medal in freestyle Poomsae.
The taekwondo player hung the gold medal after adding 7,610 points at the sub-site in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ortega surpassed other athletes from Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti.
The traditional Poomsae category, in which Elian Ortega won gold, consists of a combination of defensive and offensive moves against imaginary opponents.
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Hours later, the Nicaraguan athlete won the silver medal, now in freestyle Poomsae, obtaining 738 points, only surpassed by the Mexican William Arroyo, who accumulated 780 points.
“This gold medal fills me with happiness and I want to dedicate it to all the people who have supported me throughout my process and know that this medal is for Nicaragua,” Ortega said in a video posted on his Facebook account.
Elian Ortega’s gold medal is the fourth in the history of Nicaraguan sports in the Central American and Caribbean Games, and the last was in the 2002 edition, with Svitlana Kaschenko in practical shooting. The others were in Puerto Rico 1993 with the swimmer Walter Soza and Guatemala 1950, with the boxer Gustavo Vega.
With the two taekwondo medals, Nicaragua rises in the San Salvador 2023 medal table, ranking 13th out of 23 countries, accumulating seven medals in total, one more silver in beach volleyball and four bronze -two in weights and two in oars-.
The XXIV edition of the Central American and Caribbean Games 2023 takes place in El Salvador, between June 23 and July 8, 2023.
