María Isabel Urrutia Ocoró (born 25 March 1965) is a former weightlifter, athlete and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. She won the first ever gold medal for

at the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Athletic career

Background

Initially she competed in

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and discus throw, and participated in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in these events.

Weightlifting

She switched to

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift Weight training#Equipment, weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various t ...

in 1989, and won silver at the 1989 World Championships. She won gold at the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, silver

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, gold

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, silver

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, bronze

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, silver

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, and bronze at the

1998 World Weightlifting Championships The 1998 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Lahti, Finland from November 10 to November 15, 1998. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Total result) medals Ranking by all medals: Big (Total result) and Small (Sn ...

. Urrutia won a gold medal in the women's 75 kg class in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, her country's first Olympic gold medal.

Personal life

Urrutia retired after the 2000 Olympics and entered politics. She held a seat in the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia from 2002 to 2010 (twice elected: 2002 and 2006).

Achievements in track and field

References

External links

*
databaseolympics.com profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Urrutia, Maria Isabel 1965 births Living people People from Valle del Cauca Department Cabinet of Gustavo Petro Colombian sportsperson-politicians United People's Movement (Colombia) politicians Members of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia Colombian female discus throwers Colombian female shot putters Colombian female weightlifters Olympic athletes of Colombia Olympic weightlifters of Colombia Olympic gold medalists for Colombia Olympic medalists in weightlifting Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 Pan American Games Weightlifters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1999 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Colombia Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in weightlifting Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia South American Games gold medalists for Colombia South American Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1982 Southern Cross Games Competitors at the 1994 South American Games World Weightlifting Championships medalists Afro-Colombian women Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games 21st-century Colombian politicians 21st-century Colombian women politicians