Aug 13, 2024 - World
Smile to go: A hero's welcome
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Gymnast Ángel Barajas atop a firefighting truck during a parade in Cúcuta, Colombia, to celebrate his Olympic silver medal. Source: via Noticias Telemundo
Ángel Barajas, the Colombian gymnast who last week became the youngest South American athlete to medal in an Olympic Games, got a super warm welcome when he returned to his hometown of Cúcuta.
State of play: Barajas, 17, won the silver medal in the men's horizontal bar. His victory was Colombia's first Olympic win in gymnastics.
- "I was cycling through so many emotions, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," he tells Noticias Telemundo about when he realized he had the second best score in the final.
- "But I decided I would not cry because enough tears had been shed for me to even be able to get to compete" at the Olympic level, he added.
- Unlike some other athletes who get stipends or who train through sponsorships, Barajas is among those who had to hustle for funding to compete. His brother says most of the family worked two jobs to help.
