María Caridad Colón Ruenes

First Latin American athlete to be crowned Olympic champion in javelin throwing, in Moscow (1980).

María Caridad Colón was born in Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo. She began practicing athletics at a very young age, demonstrating her potential in javelin throwing. She entered the Provincial School of Sports Initiation in 1972, and at the 1974 National School Games she won a silver medal.

In 1975 she moved to the Higher School of Athletic Development and in less than a year of work as a youth athlete she achieved a gold medal in the international Santiago Nakazawa competition, in Mexico City, where she threw the javelin to 49.74 meters. A few months later she was selected for the national team in her specialty.

In the 1978 edition of the Memorial Barrientos she achieved her first national record, registering 60.62 meters. This secured her participation, that same year, in the XIII Central American and Caribbean Games held in Medellín, Colombia. There she triumphed with a mark of 63.40 meters, a regional and national record; two weeks later she achieved another throw of 63.50 meters, with which she ranked sixth in the world.

During that year she broke the youth world record twice, and was selected as Rookie of the Year in Cuba. At the Pan American Sports Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1979, she became continental champion and Pan American record holder with a throw of 62.30 meters.

She also dominated at the Pan American Sports Games in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1983, and four years later finished in second place at those in Indianapolis, United States.

At the 1980 Summer Olympic Games held in Moscow, María Caridad Colón, who with 68 meters as her personal best was among possible medal contenders, achieved a mark of 68.40 meters—for an Olympic record—on her first of six throws, and won the gold medal.

Two years later, at the Central American and Caribbean Games held in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, the newly crowned Olympic champion represented her country and won first place again.

At the 1983 World Athletics Championship in Helsinki, Finland, María Caridad Colón, not being in peak form, finished in eighth place.

After her retirement she has remained involved in sports as a professor at the Comandante Manuel Fajardo Higher Institute of Physical Culture in the city of Havana. She is the director in charge of recreation and mass sports at the Cuban Institute of Sports.

Furthermore, she began to promote and support sports activities for girls and young women, as well as to train instructors not only in her country, but also throughout the rest of the continent, work for which she was awarded in 2008 with the Annual Trophy "Women and Sports" from the International Olympic Committee in its Americas section.

She was elected Deputy to the Cuban Parliament in the 1992-1997 period, while also serving as Delegate of her constituency, and stood out for her significant participation in activities and actions for the development of children and young people, ranging from directing a circle for the promotion of sports in a primary school in the Cuban capital, to teaching javelin throwing techniques.

On the international level, she stands out as a member of the Women and Sports Commission of ODEPA (since 2002) and of the Women's Committee of the IAAF (since 1995), of which she is its representative for Central America and the Caribbean.

She has served in top positions in the Cuban sports movement, as National Director of Physical Recreation and Professor at the "Comandante Manuel Fajardo" Higher Institute of Physical Culture in the City of Havana, teaching new generations since 1979.

She has contributed to the training of instructors for girls and young women in Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, and Peru.

Recognition
Annual Trophy "Women and Sports" from the International Olympic Committee (2009).2​
Selected for the Hall of Fame of the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Confederation (2003).
Chosen among the 100 most outstanding Cuban athletes of the twentieth century.
IAAF Medal in the International Year of Women's Athletics (1998) for her work in favor of women's development in that sport.