La Asunción is a city in Venezuela. The capital of Nueva Esparta state, it lies on Margarita Island in the Caribbean Sea, off the South American mainland. It is situated in a fertile valley surrounded by green hills, 6 miles (10 km) inland from the port of Porlamar, where a cooler climate exists. The city was founded in 1565 by Captain Pedro González Cervantes de Albornoz. It has an imposing backdrop of Santa Rosa Castle, also known as the Santa Rosa Fort, which was built to protect the city. The most important structures in the city are built around the Plaza Bolívar. The Catedral Nuestra Señora de La Asunción, dated to the 16th century, is one of the earliest churches in the country. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 28,513 people.
Venezuela competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland. The Venezuelan Olympic Committee selected 38 competitors, 36 men and two women, to take part in 37 events across eight sports. This was a much greater turnout than 1948, Venezuela's only previous entry, which had only one athlete. For the first time, women represented Venezuela at the Summer Olympics. Women have been absent in the Venezuelan team on four occasions, including the next Summer Games held in Melbourne.
Venezuela sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10 to 26 February 2006. This was the third time Venezuela had competed at a Winter Olympic Games. The Venezuelan delegation consisted of one luge athlete, Werner Hoeger. He finished 32nd in his only event, the men's singles.
Grenada competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Venezuela sent a delegation to compete in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 7–22 February 1998. The delegation consisted of a single luge competitor, Iginia Boccalandro. In the women's singles she came in 28th place out of 29 competitors.
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a continental multi-sport event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. At the Games, 5,633 athletes selected from 42 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 332 events in 34 sports divided into 47 disciplines. According to the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Pan American Games, 2,196 medals were awarded for every winning athlete, including individuals from teams, during 334 awards ceremonies.
Joan Arlene Spillane is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Jessica Brizeida López Arocha is a Venezuelan artistic gymnast who competes for the Venezuela national team. She competed at the 2008, the 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she qualified to the uneven bars final, becoming the first Venezuelan gymnast to qualify for an individual apparatus final, where she placed sixth.
Dalia María Contreras Rivero is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in taekwondo. She also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in her weight class.
Erin Nicole Volcán Smith is an international backstroke and individual medley swimmer from Venezuela. She is a former South American record holder, and current (2009) Venezuelan record holder. She swam for Venezuela at the 2008 Olympics.
Yanel Andriana Pinto Pérez is an Olympic swimmer from Venezuela. She swam for Venezuela at the 2008 Olympics.
Andreina del Valle Pinto Pérez is an Olympic and National Record holding swimmer from Venezuela. She swam for Venezuela at the 2008 Olympics.
Arlene Limas is an American taekwondo practitioner and multiple international gold medalist of Mexican and Polish descent.
Andrea Arlene Anderson is an American track and field athlete best remembered for winning a gold medal on the 4 × 400 meters relay team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She ran in the preliminaries and semi-finals. Anderson subsequently had to return her medal along with the rest of the team after Marion Jones was disqualified following her admission to using performance-enhancing drugs. On July 16, 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the other American teammates and returned the medals.
The women's 50 metre freestyle competition of the swimming events at the 2011 Pan American Games took place on October 21 at the Scotiabank Aquatics Center in the municipality of Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico. The defending Pan American Games champion is Arlene Semeco of Venezuela.
Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos was a Venezuelan track cyclist – a five-time Olympian considered one of Venezuela's most important sportspeople and the leading Venezuelan cyclist for over two decades. She had a brief road cycling career in the 1990s, and set the Olympic record for women's track time trial in 2000. She spent the last eight years of her life in exile.
Gioia Denise Arismendi Lombardini , better known as Gioia Arismendi is a Venezuelan actress and model.
Anastasiya Sergeyevna Aksenova is a Russian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She represented her nation Russia in a sprint freestyle swimming double at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has also claimed multiple Russian championship titles and national records in both the individual and relay freestyle events. Aksenova was also a member of Suduroyar Svimjifelag in Vagur, Faroe Islands, under the tutelage of head coach Jon Bjarnason.
Ryu Yoon-ji is a South Korean former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She won two bronze medals, as a member of the South Korean swimming team, in freestyle and medley relays, at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
The women's 100 metre freestyle competition at the 2014 South American Games took place on March 8 at the Estadio Nacional. The last champion was Arlene Semeco of Venezuela.
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