With her great performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where she won the silver medal in women’s boxing in the -75kg category, Panamanian Atheyna Bylon became only the fourth woman from Central America to win a medal at the world sports event.
The first was Silvia Poll in Seoul 1988 when she won the silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle swimming event, giving Costa Rica its first Olympic medal in its history.
The second was Claudia Poll in Atlanta 1996 when she won the first and only gold medal for Costa Rica in swimming in the 200-meter freestyle, while she won two medals at the Sydney 2000 Games, winning the bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle and the 400-meter freestyle.
It took 24 years for another Central American woman to achieve the feat of winning a medal, and it was gold for Guatemalan Adriana Ruano in women’s trap shooting, which gave Guatemala its first gold medal in its history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Atheyna Bylon entered the records of Panamanian and Central American sports history by becoming the fourth woman to win an Olympic medal in the region, a historic achievement that gave our country its fourth medal in its history and the first for a Panamanian woman.
Atheyna becomes that example of perseverance, effort and discipline that allowed her to achieve her third Olympic Games and fulfill her dream and that of an entire nation to once again see an athlete from Panama on an Olympic podium and see our flag waving at a medal ceremony, with the hope that in Los Angeles 2028 we will once again experience these great moments of joy for the nation.
