Echenique and the Colombians who opened the doors to world sport

The three minutes and four seconds that the Barranquillero played this Thursday, December 30 Jaime Echenique wearing the Washington Wizards jersey, they passed into eternity as the first presentation of a Colombian in the NBA.

The tears that flowed from the debutant summed up the struggle of the almost three decades that have happened since the Bolivarian Álvaro Teherán, who died in 2020, was close to reaching the best basketball in the world.

Now, without any detail that detracts from it, the last name Echenique is part of the list of pioneers of Colombian sport who, because of their talent, put the national flag on the global scene. And, perhaps more important than that, as is expected after this latest feat, they paved the way for future representatives.

A list of real gold letters.

(You may be interested in: Maria Camila Osorio: ‘I want to be an example for children’).

The first Colombian in an Olympic Games

In the tenth edition of the modern olympic gamesIn Los Angeles in 1932, the Colombian flag was raised when there was not even a national Olympic committee.

The person in charge of doing it was the Boyacense Jorge Perry Villate, who, at just 22 years old, managed to be registered for the jousts and participate in the most demanding test: the marathon.

Unfortunately, Villate only resisted 10 of the 42 kilometers that made up the race that the Argentine Juan Carlos Zabala ended up winning.

However, his feat was summed up in a historical title: the first colombian at an Olympics.

Upon his return to the country, Villate was appointed ‘chancellor’ (a kind of consul of the time) in the same city where he first arrived as an athlete.

Then he worked as a physical education teacher in various schools in Cundinamarca. A Gabriel Garcia Marquez He integrated the list of his pupils at the Liceo de Zipaquirá.

In sports, his feat supported the subsequent feats:

First Olympic medal ‘tricolor’: the silver of the Barranquilla player Helmut Bellingrodt in sports shooting during the 1972 Munich jousts.

First female medalist: Ximena Restrepo from Antioquia, who won bronze in the 400 meter dash at Barcelona 1992.

First Colombian gold medal: María Isabel Urrutia, lifting weights during the Sydney 2000 games.

(Be sure to read: Sandra Arenas’ huge silver at the Tokyo Olympics).

The first soccer player to export Colombia

Before the Faustino Asprilla, Adolfo Valencia, Radamel Falcao, James Rodríguez and the rest of the Colombian players who have reached international football, there was Roberto the ‘Skinny’ Meléndez.

The Barranquilla, star of the Junior Youth (the base of what is now the Barranquilla Junior), had a fleeting step by the extinct Cuban team Galician Sports Center in 1939.

His arrival on the island, in times of World War II, allowed him to keep the label of the first ‘tricolor’ footballer to jump to football from abroad.

Today, the official name of the Metropolitan Stadium in his hometown honors his legacy.

According to the information of some statisticians of the king sport, the first Colombian to be part of an international club was the tumaqueño Alejandro Frigerio Payán.

What happens is that Frigerio did not play in Colombia and that is why he is not considered as the pioneer in ‘export matters’.

The first ‘beetle’ to win in Europe

In the sport that has given the greatest success to Colombia, the great representatives are counted by dozens.

For practical purposes of this list, the pioneering role is given to Giovanni Jimenez Ocampo, widely recognized as the first professional cyclist in the country for being the ‘beetle’ that paved the way in the Old Continent.

In Belgium, the land of Philippe Thys, Eddy merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck, Rik Van Looy and other glories of cycling history, Jiménez achieved the first ‘tricolor’ victory in Europe, at the 1971 Mechelen Grand Prix, when he was 29 years old.

His story, a complete journey from his native Medellín to Flanders, with a stopover in Munich, faithfully portrayed the national passion for the iron horse. The same as the ‘Cochise’, Herrera, Parra, Botero, Agudelo, Quintana, Bernal and many others have incarnated with their deeds on the European continent.

(What’s more: Egan Bernal, an unforgettable Giro d’Italia).

The first Colombian to reach the Major Leagues

Almost a century before Édgar Renteria took her out of the stadium with his unforgettable title with the Florida Marlins, a Colombian had already stepped onto the gradations of Major League Baseball.

Luis ‘Lou’ Castro, a baseball player from Antioquia, was in charge of “paving the way” at the beginning of the 20th century on US soil.

From what the records indicate, his debut would have been in 1902 with the Philadelphia Athletics jersey, the base of the Oakland Athletics today.

Since then, more than 25 national representatives have played in the ‘Big Top’.

The first Colombian tennis player to win a Grand Slam

The national pioneer in lifting a trophy of the great competitions of white sports was the Antioqueño Ivan Molina.

In 1974, in the mixed doubles modality of the Roland Garros, the one born in Medellín was left with the title of the hand of the legend Martina Navratilova.

His victims during that opportunity were the Mexicans Rosie Reyes and Marcelo Lara.

By then, in singles, Molina had already achieved the feat of beating the Australian Rod Laver, one of the greatest tennis players in history.

(We recommend: Isabel Fernández de Soto, the Colombian pioneer at Wimbledon).

The first Colombian driver in Formula 1

In the times of Niki Lauda, ​​Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet the Colombian appeared Roberto Jose Guerrero.

At the beginning of the eighties, the Antioqueño, in his early twenties, made his debut in the top motorsport competition.

Unfortunately, he did not have much luck and his time on the best tracks was without pain or glory.

Of course, then he continued competing in the cars of the Champ Car, today integrated into the IndyCar, and obtained better results.

His career lasted until 2001, the year in which, coincidentally, he debuted Juan Pablo Montoya, the best driver in the history of the country, in Formula 1.

(Keep reading: Verstappen, the inheritance of a Formula 1 champion).

The first Colombian boxer to contest a world title

Although in the memory of all Colombians is the unforgettable fight with which Antonio Cervantes ‘Kid’ Pambelé certified the first world boxing championship for Colombia in 1972, a compatriot had already contested the title eight years ago.

Bernardo caraballo, ‘Caraballito’, was the first national boxer to appear in the world ranking of the then National Boxing Association and fight, precisely in Bogotá, the global title.

Unfortunately, for the November 1964 fight, he had to cross paths with the Brazilian in the ring. Éder Jofre, who, after seven rounds, knocked him out.

Little more than a decade later, ‘Caraballito’ hung up the gloves.

Currently, the Covered Coliseum of Cartagena honors his legacy by bearing his name.

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