Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Antioquia, Colombia | 19 March 1978
Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) |
Weight | 55 kg (121 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | Colombia |
Sport | Women's athletics |
Disability | Visual impairment |
Disability class | T11 |
Event(s) | 400m 800m 1,500m |
Club | Bello Athletics Club |
Achievements and titles | |
Paralympic finals | 2012 |
Maritza Arango Buitrago (born 19 March 1978) is a middle-distance para-sport athlete from Colombia who competes mainly in middle-distance events in the T11 category. [1] She has represented Colombia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and has won silver in the 800m at two consecutive IPC Athletics World Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Arango Buitrago was born in the Antioquia district of Colombia in 1978 to Gustavo and Romelia. [1] [2] The third of eight children, [2] she grew up on the outskirts of the city of Santa Marta Antioquia, and was educated at Marco Fidel Suarez School. [3] She became a nursery school teacher and in 1999 she gave birth to a son, Juan. In 2003, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa a degenerative eye disease. The illness progressed and over the following years she lost her sight. Initially she had depression and spent two years where she did not want to leave her home. [1] [3] She broke her depression when she decided to take control of her disability and learn to live with it. Over the next two years she learnt braille and found work in a factory, packing hospital gloves. In her free time she enjoyed swimming, but a chance meeting with running coach Juan "Chope" Guillermo Rodríguez led her to take up athletics. [3]
Arango Buitrago first became involved about a year after being approached by Chope. She first tried out running whilst blind at the Estadio Alfonso Galvis Duque and from there she developed a passion for the sport. [3] In 2011, she was selected for the Colombia national team at the IPC Athletics World Championships. She competed in two events, the 400m and 800m races. In the 400m qualifiers she was placed in the last of the three heats. Although she finished second behind Britain's Tracey Hinton, her time of 1:07.94 was the fastest losing time of the heats and she took the fourth space in the finals. [4] In the final, despite running a season's best of 1:05.88, Arango Buitrago finished outside the medals in fourth place. In the 800m qualifiers she posted a time of 2:31.31 in the second heat to go through in first place setting an area record. She ran a slower time in the final, but it was still enough for her to finish second behind the Czech Republic's Miroslava Sedlackova to collect the silver medal. [4]
In 2012 Arango Buitrago, was selected to represent Colombia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Unfortunately for her, her favoured 400m and 800m T11 events were not part of that year's schedule and she elected to run in the 1500m T12 event. Running with her guide Jonathan Sánchez Gonzalez, she finished sixth in a time of 5:05.72.
The next year Arango Buitrago represented Colombia again, this time at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships held in Lyon, France. She entered two events, the T11 800m and the T12 1,500m, again guided by Jonathan Sánchez Gonzalez. In the 1,500m she was placed in the first semi-final with three T12 athletes, none of her competitors running with guides. She finished in second place with a season's best time of 5:09.81 and automatically qualified for the final. [5] The only T11 athlete in the final, she finished fourth with a time of 5:07.47, the fastest runner with a guide. [5] The 800m, running in a category T11 race where all the athletes were guided, she finished first in her heat with a time of 2:31.03. In the final Arango Buitrago ran 2:24.85 an area record to finish second behind Italy's Annalisa Minetti to take her second World Championship silver medal. [5]
Elizabeth Clegg, is a Scottish Paralympic sprinter and tandem track cyclist who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.
Odair Santos is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five silver medals. Santos is also a four time IPC World champion at the 1,500 metres event, being unbeaten from 2006 to 2015.
Morocco made its Paralympic Games début at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. It was represented by an all-male team, with five competitors in athletics, three in swimming, and a wheelchair basketball team. Abdeljalal Biare won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle in swimming - Morocco's sole medal of the 1988 Games.
The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The men's 400 metres at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships is held at the QEII Stadium on 22-23 and 26–29 January
Elena Pautova is a Paralympian athlete from Russia competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. She is a two times Paralympic gold medalist and three times World Championship gold medalist in the 1500m race. Pautova also broke the world record in the T13 5000m event in 2003.
Marcel Eric Hug is a Paralympic athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 5000m.
Sam Harding is an Australian Paralympic athlete and paratriathlete. His classification is T12 and competed in 400m and the 800m events. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics in athletics and has been selected to compete in paratriathlon at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
María Vanesa Ortega Godoy is a Paralympic former athlete from Spain competing mainly in category T11 sprint events. She was a Paralympic silver medalist.
Tracey Hinton is a Paralympic athlete being visually impaired and classed as T11 in the Paralympic classification system. Born in Cardiff and a member of Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club, Hinton has been blind since having cancer of the retina aged four which resulted in her losing her sight. She has won three silver and three bronze medals at Paralympic level.
Kenya competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom from August 29 to September 9, 2012, where they were represented by thirteen athletes who won six medals at these games, two gold, two silver and two bronze. All the country's Paralympians competed in athletics. Kenya had originally qualified a larger team, and in more sports like powerlifting and rowing.
David Devine is a British Paralympic athlete. Devine competes in T12 and T13 middle-distance track events, and has represented Great Britain in both the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at three Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at each competition. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
Melissa Nicholls is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in middle-distance events in the T34 classification. Nicholls competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a silver medal in the 800m at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships.
Barbara Bieganowska-Zając is a Paralympian athlete from Poland competing mainly in category T20 sprint and middle-distance events. She is a two time Paralympic gold medalist in the 800m (2000) and 1,500 metres (2012) races and has won four World Athletic titles.
Semih Deniz is a Turkish Paralympics medalist middle distance runner competing in the T11, T12 and T13 class.
Öznur Alumur, also known as Öznur Alumur Yılmaz or Öznur Akbulut, is a Turkish female Paralympian athlete competing in the F11, T11 and T12 disability class middle-distance events of 400m and 1500m. She is a member of Gaziantep BB Disabled SK.
Lahja Ishitile is a Namibian Paralympic T11 track and field athlete.