Silvia and Claudia Ball are Olympic champion in Costa Rica

Costa Rica She hasn’t missed the Olympics since Tokyo in 1964 however He owes all his medals to the talent of two sisters They were forced to leave their land. Silvia and Claudia Paul Arens were born in Managua In 1970, 1972 and They moved to Costa Rica as girls, When the Sandinista revolution began in Nicaragua. From German parents, They started training at a swimming club in Heredia when they were nine years old at the initiative of their mother. A decade later Sylvia would have dazzled the whole country by claiming the first Olympic medal in the country’s historySilver medal in the 200m freestyle, in Seoul, 1988.

Soon his coach Francisco Rivas saw his potential and suggested becoming a high-performance athlete five years ago. She ended her career at the age of 24, but before that she had time to break 290 records, was chosen 11 times And let the Caribbean country dream. Her sister Claudia followed in her footsteps, surpassing her in terms of record. Obtain three medals from other metals. The youngest of two years, the young girl A. Gone in Atlanta in 1996 and two in Sydney in 2000.

Claudia eagerly entered professional swimming after her sister’s success. Even Compete with a hand bandage at the Edmonton Pan Pacific Swimming ChampionshipsCanada, after suffering a broken left hand in 1991. The most important moment of his career was to come in Atlanta He defeated the world champion, the German Franziska van Almsek, and Dagmar HaaseDefender of the Olympic title. The image of Claudia crying in the pool while waving a small Costa Rican flag is part of the imagination of Tikos residents.

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Horn Athlete

they Bronze medals in the 200 and 400 freestyle events In Sydney 2000 they were sweeter after 1999 to forget. “Receive two bronze medals After all I worked on in the past year to get rid of my back injury, for me it is extraordinary »Then the person who is considered the athlete of the century declared The most important athlete in the history of Costa Rica. 21 years after the country’s last Olympic victory, the nation’s hopes pinned the debut of the Olympics Andrea Vargas in Tokyo 2021. The fifth best player in the world in the 100-meter hurdles at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, he also holds national and Central American records.

Claudia Ball celebrated her 1st Costa Rica gold medal, in Atlanta in 1996.
Claudia Ball celebrated her 1st Costa Rica gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. / Watch

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