| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Athletics | ||
Representing  Puerto Rico | ||
| Central American and Caribbean Games | ||
 | 1982 Havana | 1500 m |
| 1986 Santiago | 1500 m |
 | 1986 Santiago | 4x400m relay |
| CAC Junior Championships (U20) | ||
| 1976 Xalapa | 4x100 m relay |
| 1976 Xalapa | 4x400 m relay |
Angelita Lind Soliveras a.k.a. "The Angel of Puerto Rico" (born January 13, 1959) is a Puerto Rican track and field athlete.
Lind was born in the barrio Marin Bajo of Patillas, Puerto Rico into a poor family. She received her primary and secondary education in her hometown. Lind first participated in track and field events in the 7th grade and later continued participating for her high school. However, it wasn't until she became a student at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico that she was asked by the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee to represent Puerto Rico in international sports events. [1] [2]
Lind has represented the island and participated in three Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) and won two gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal. She also participated in three Pan American Games and in the 1984 Olympics celebrated in Los Angeles, California. [1] [2]
In the CAC of 1982, celebrated in Havana, Cuba, Lind was the standard carrier of the Puerto Rican flag. In those games, she won a gold medal in the 1,500 meter dash with a record time of 4:25.88 and a silver in the 800 meters dash in a controversial race in 2:04.24. In that race, she crossed the finish line with two Cuban runners next to her. Right at the finish line the two Cuban girls ran into each other and they both knocked Angelita down. Lind's feet were crossing the finish line, but because the Cuban fell into Angelita from behind, it was the Cuban who actually crossed the finish line first; after a prolonged discussion which reached the central offices of the International Athletic Federation, it was decided that Lind arrived second. They based their decision on a rule of track and field which states that the first torso across the finish line wins. [1] [2]
By this time there had been a lot of trouble between the Government of Puerto Rico, headed by pro-US statehood governor Carlos Romero Barceló, (who withheld economic support from the athletic delegation headed to Cuba), and the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee, presided by German Rieckehoff, which had to appeal directly to the people for donations. Lind's "fall" united the people of Puerto Rico and for the first time, they forgot about the fight between the Olympic Committee and the government and concentrated on the sport - these events also served to inspire future runners. [1] [2]
Angelita Lind officially retired in 1992, however in July 2003 at age 44, she returned to participate in the 1,500 dash in the World Masters Athletics championships, which were celebrated in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She continues to hold the national record for the 800 meters dash and the 1,500 meters dash. [1] [2]
She earned her master's degree from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and is currently a professor of physical education. Lind also serves as assistant athletic director in the department of physical education at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico campus in San German, Puerto Rico. In 2004, she was inducted into the "Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame". [1] [2]
1Did not finish in the final
2Representing the Americas
3Did not start in the final
Sports in Puerto Rico can be traced from the ceremonial competitions amongst the pre-Columbian Native Americans of the Arawak (Taíno) tribes who inhabited the island to the modern era in which sports activities consist of an organized physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose for competition. One of the sports which the Taíno's played was a ball game called "Batey". The "Batey" was played in U-shaped fields two teams; however, unlike the ball games of the modern era, the winners were treated like heroes and the losers were sacrificed.
Puerto Rico competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's fifteenth consecutive appearance at the Olympics.
Yvonne Harrison Castro, also spelled Ivonne is a Puerto Rican athlete who specialized in the 400 metres hurdles. She competed at two World Junior Championships, two World Championships, one World Indoor Championships and one Olympic Games.
Dr. Rebekah Colberg Cabrera, was a Puerto Rican athlete, who was known as "The Mother of Women's Sports in Puerto Rico". Colberg participated in various athletic competitions in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games celebrated in Panama where she won the gold medals in Discus and Javelin throw.
Germán Rieckehoff Sampayo was a Puerto Rican nationalist of German descent, who served as president of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee.
Enrique Figueroa Suárez, also known as "Quique Figueroa", is a Puerto Rican sailor. Figueroa is the only sailor of Puerto Rico to win four gold medals in the Central American-Caribbean Games. He has also competed at five Olympic Games, from 1988 to 2004 and in 2020. In 1999, Figueroa and his wife Carla Malatrasi won a gold medal in sailing in the Pan Am Hobie competition celebrated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. On March 3, 2003 the Senate of Puerto Rico honored Enrique Figueroa and his wife Carla Malatrasi by recognizing their achievements.
Jesús David "Jesse" Vassallo Anadón is a former competition swimmer and world record-holder in the 200 and 400 individual medley, who participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics for the United States. In 1997, he became the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He was somewhat unique in the scale of his achievements as a swimmer, and in a tribute to his World Records in 1978 was voted Swimming World Magazine's "Male Swimmer of the Year". From 2004 to 2009, he served as the president of the Puerto Rican National Swimming Federation.
Daisy Ocasio is a well known Puerto Rican athlete. A participant of Marathon and Track and Field races, she is also a former female boxer.
Fernando J. Canales is a former freestyle swimmer from Puerto Rico and swimming coach. Up until the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he was the head assistant coach for men's swimming & diving at his alma mater, The University of Michigan, and also for the USA National Championship Team, Club Wolverine, home for numerous Olympic champions and medalists. He is a member of the USA Swimming's International Relations Committee as well as the United States' technical representative for the Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas (ASUA/UANA). He is an assistant director of development for The University of Michigan Athletic Department. He then was the head coach at Colgate University. In his first season at Colgate, the women's team took home the 2011 Patriot League Championship, and the men's team finished the meet in fifth place. In 2016 he coached his home country Puerto Rico at the Olympics in Rio. Currently he is the head coach for Pitchfork Aquatics and Puerto Rico.
Lisa Maria Fernandez is an American former softball player and current associate head coach at UCLA. She played college softball at UCLA as a pitcher and third baseman, and is a three-time medal winning Olympian with Team USA.
Puerto Rico first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Puerto Rico has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1984, but did not participate in the Games of 2006, 2010, and 2014.
Diego Lizardi Marcial was a Puerto Rican athlete specialized in gymnastics. During his career, Lizardi represented Puerto Rico in several international tournaments including two Summer Olympic Games.
Puerto Rico competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics which was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. The American territory with a population of four million people qualified 22 athletes in eight different sports. The appearance of the Puerto Rican delegation at the Beijing Olympics marked the commonwealth's sixteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics, and its twenty-second appearance at any Olympic Games, since its debut at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. Of its competitors participating in events that involve progression by heats, six athletes advanced at least one round in their events, and two advanced at least two rounds, with Asunción Ocasio almost medaling bronze in taekwondo. However, there were no Puerto Rican medalists at the Beijing Olympics. McWilliams Arroyo, a boxer, bore Puerto Rico's flag at the ceremonies.
Carol Ann Rodríguez Taylor is a Puerto Rican sprinter. Her mother was an African American from New Orleans, and her father grew up in Yauco, Puerto Rico.
Anita Lallande was a Puerto Rican Olympic swimmer, who holds the record for the most medals won at the Central American and Caribbean Games.
Rubén Astor Hernández Guzmán Jiménez Iglesias is a Puerto Rican fencer. He competed in the individual épée event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Carlos de Anda Dominguez was a Mexican accomplished sprinter who competed internationally, eventually reaching the 1932 Summer Olympics, and qualifying for the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Juan "Papo" Franceschi, was a Puerto Rican track and field athlete from Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's eighteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn is a Puerto Rican track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 metres hurdles. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the first Puerto Rican of Afro-Latino descent and the second person representing Puerto Rico to win a gold medal. In the semi-finals, Camacho-Quinn set her personal best and Olympic record of 12.26 seconds, which is tied for the tenth fastest time in history. She won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and a silver medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, she won a bronze medal, her second one, becoming the only Puerto Rican to have won two Olympic medals.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
