Iván Raña Fuentes (born 10 June 1979) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

and the winner of three medals in the World Triathlon Championships between the years of 2002–2004. He also has won three medals at the European League Triathlon as well, between the years of 2001–2003. He competed in three Olympics as well: Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004, and Beijing in 2008, where he won two Olympic Diplomas for fifth place in both Sydney and Beijing.

Athletic career

Raña participated in the first Olympic

triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics Triathlon made its official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. This sporting event was held at the Sydney Opera House. Forty-eight triathletes contested the female event on September 16, while fifty-two contested the male eve ...

. He took fifth place with a total time of 1:49:10.88. In 2002 when he won world, European and national titles. His world championship win in Cancún, Mexico, was Spain's first gold medal in the event. The next year he came home second at the world championships behind Australia's Peter Robertson and he had to settle for silver earlier this year as well. In 2004, at the world champs in Madeira, Raña came home less than a second behind Kiwi Docherty. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, Raña dropped to a disappointing twenty-third place with a time of 1:55:44.27. However, he competed again at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

where he took fifth place with a time of 1:49:22.03.

Cycling and other sports

Occasionally, Raña has participated in some rally car races, having his brother José as his copilot. The tandem drives a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution during the races. One of the competitions that he has participated in is called the Rally Botafumeiro, which was the scoring event for the Gallego Rally Championships in 2007, 2009, and 2010. In December 2008, he signed a one-year deal with the professional cycling team

Xacobeo–Galicia Xacobeo Galicia was a professional continental cycling team from Spain. It competed in the UCI Europe Tour and, when selected as a wild card (sports), wild card, in UCI ProTour events. The creation of the team was announced on July 11, 2006, as Fu ...

and during the first stage of his first race, the Mallorca Challenge, he was involved in a substantial fall, which resulted in a dislocated collarbone. After reflecting on his athletic career, Raña decided to return to the triathlon in December 2009 with the ambition of competing in the London Olympics in 2012.

References

1979 births Living people Spanish male triathletes Olympic triathletes for Spain Sportspeople from Galicia (Spain) Triathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics {{Spain-triathlon-bio-stub