Iginia Boccalandro Valentina (born February 14, 1961 in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Distrito Capital) is a Venezuelan Olympic athlete.

Life

She was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but trained in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in the United States. She was a volleyball player and downhill skier in Venezuela before switching careers due to chronic knee problems. In 1994, she joined a developmental

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

program sponsored by the United States luge association. She took part in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, finishing 28th in luge at Nagano. Boccalandro was the first Venezuelan to participate in the Winter Olympics. In 2002, during the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, she carried the Venezuelan flag in opening ceremonies. At the end of her first descent she lost control of her sled, having a serious accident. In one of the last curves she lost her balance and was separated from her sled. She hit both sides of the lane a number of times, but was unharmed (although she received a DNF). The accident raised questions about whether athletes from warmer climates should be allowed to participate in the Olympics under their diversity policy, highlighting the lack of training and experience that could prove a danger to safety.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boccalandro, Iginia 1961 births Living people Venezuelan female lugers Venezuelan people of Italian descent Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic lugers for Venezuela Sportspeople from Caracas