South America - Women & Sports

South America - Women & Sports!By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Alejandro_Guevara_Onofre]Alejandro Guevara Onofre
Road to London 2012! Argentina Did you know- Argentina sent six sportswomen to the XVII Olympic Winter Games in the Norwegian city of Lillehammer, between February 12 and February 27, 1994. However, none of them were able to qualify for the second round. Julia Iriarte (Bolivia) Did you know- Julia Iriarte is the greatest Bolivian athlete -male or female-of all time.She provided one of the more memorable moments of the Bolivarian Games in 1947: she won eight medals. She also became the first woman to win 8 track and field medals in a single Bolivarian Games. Thirty years later, at the 1977 Bolivarian Games in La Paz, Bolivia, Iriarte was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch into the Stadium. For the first time in history this honour had been bestowed on a woman. In the 1940s, she established several new national records in eight track and field events.

Brazil Did you know- By 1957, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) hosted the Women's Basketball World Championship. The United States won the global event. Colombia Did you know- Colombia sent three sportswomen to the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles (California,USA) in 1984. Paraguay Did you know- For the second time, Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay, hosted the Women's Basketball South American Tournament ( 1962). Edith Noeding (Peru) Did you know- By July 1976,Peru's idol Edith Noeding -who won a gold medal in the women's 100m hurdles at the VII Pan American Games in Mexico City in 1975 - led a 13-member delegation to the Summer Olympics in Montreal (Canada).

At the 1976 Games she failed to win a medal when she had suffered a serious injury. Noeding, who has German roots, has been one of the most respected athletes in Peruvian history. Letitia Vriesde (Suriname) Did you know- In the 1990s, Suriname's champ Letitia Vriesde became the most successful South American runner. By 1990, she had won a gold medal in the women's 1,500m at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico City. In addition, she came in second place in the 800m. In the next year, Vriesde earned a silver medal in the women's 1,500m in the Pan American Games in Havana (Cuba). By the mid-1990s, she won the silver medal in the women's 800m at the IAAF World Championships in Sweden. During that time, she also earned a bronze medal in the Continental Games in Argentina. By 1999, she came in first place in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In the final, she -- only one South American runner- defeated Zulia Calatayud (Cuba) and Meredith Valmon (USA). Together with Anthony Conrad Nesty (Olympic champ in Seoul in 1988), she is one of the nation's idols in the 21st century. She was born on October 5, 1964. Estrella Puente (Uruguay) Did you know- Estrella Puente won the silver medal in the women's javelin throw at the 1955 Pan American Games in the United Mexican States.

Alejandro Guevara Onofre: Freelance writer. Alejandro is author of a host of articles/essays about over 220 countries and dependencies (and American States as well), from ecology, history, tourism and national heroes to Olympic sports, foreign relations, and wildlife. In addition, he has published some books on women's rights, among them "History of the Women in America" and "Famous Americans."
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