Bitterness and sadness on social media: for Colombia’s “poor performance at the Olympics”

Although triumphs and medals remain elusive for the Colombian delegation, on social media they ask people not to stop supporting the country’s athletes. “In the end, many have to fight alone and against everything,” they say.

News Colombia.

For an athlete, qualifying for the Olympic Games is the greatest pride of his career. Winning one of the three medals: gold, silver or bronze, is an exciting joy that for many has no comparison.

Absolute satisfaction, excitement and overflowing joy are what sporting triumphs unleash in a country where feelings of pride are few and far between.

For the current Olympic Games in Paris 2024, the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solano Hurtado, stated days before their start that the country was expected to win at least 10 medals.

• “There are 206 countries competing for the 10,500 available places. Being among those 10,500 is a feat. It is very difficult, because all the athletes are preparing for the same goal,” Solano said before traveling to France.

So far 4 Olympic Diplomas

It is no secret that for athletes who are going to represent their country, the main objective is mostly to win a medal, as long as it is within their possibilities in the middle of the competition.

But unfortunately, this is something that very few people achieve, despite four years of hard training.

Taking into account reasons such as these, the Olympic organisation decided that, starting with London 1948, the performance of athletes who did not win medals but “came close to doing so” should be recognised. This was done through Olympic Diplomas.

In this regard, it is worth highlighting that in Paris 2024, Queen Saray Villegas, although she had a very good performance in the BMX Freestyle final, did not win a medal and was left with an Olympic Diploma.

Likewise, boxer Angie Valdés also received the same award for being among the eight best in the discipline.

The third Diploma was awarded to race walker Lorena Arenas, who finished fourth in the 20 km race walk.

• “I am very happy to have obtained this result, I am back again. It was a very difficult competition but I gave everything for Colombia and for myself. She (Jiayu Yang, representative of China) went by very quickly, due to the weather and many factors; we had to make decisions about whether we would go out with her, but we decided to stay in another group and in the end we tried to catch up with her, but she was very far ahead,” said the athlete.

The fourth and last achievement at the Games was another Diploma, obtained by boxer Yeni Arias in the quarter-finals in the 54-kilogram category.

The boxer fell to South Korean Aeji Im after a split decision (3-2) at the North Paris Arena.

«Colombia’s performance at these Olympics was very poor»

For many Internet users, far from generating a certain joy or happiness, the Diplomas obtained by Colombian athletes, what is felt is an ‘air’ of “poverty and sporting failure.”

They say that not having won any medals at the current Olympics is truly “regrettable and sad.”

• «What Colombia did in these Olympics shows that in this… country they don’t care about sport. It happens to me every day with my daughter, who has gone to represent the country in her sport and all the expenses have been covered by the parents with too much effort. It’s a disgrace.»
• “What is this thing about Colombia in these Olympics? Someone please explain it to me.”
• “What a failure the thing about Colombia in these Olympic Games. And to think that it was during the government of Iván Duque that the best performance in history was achieved. These progressives ruin everything. They destroyed Colombian sport. That’s how it is.

These are some of the comments from Internet users on networks social.