Mauricio Alexander Ortega Girón (born 4 August 1994 in

Apartadó Apartadó () is a town and municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. "Apartadó" means "river of plantains" in the local Indian language. The town is located near the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Urabá, the economy is based in banan ...

, Antioquia)Biscayart, Eduardo (2013-12-02)
Rodriguez and Garcia help Colombia shine at Bolivarian Games
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-20. is a Colombian

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. His personal best of 70.29 for the event is the Colombian record. He also holds the South American junior record. He was the gold medallist at the

2014 South American Games The 2014 South American Games was a multi-sport event that took place in Santiago, Chile. It was the 10th edition of the ODESUR South American Games. Santiago hosted this event for the second time, the first being in 1986. Most of the events took ...

and a bronze medallist at the

2013 South American Championships in Athletics The 48th South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Parque de Atletismo Campo Elías Gutiérrez in Cartagena, Colombia, between July 5-7, 2013. A total of 44 events were contested, 22 by men and 22 by women. Detailed reports ...

. He was a two-time champion at the

South American Junior Championships in Athletics The South American U20 Championships in Athletics are the South American championships in the sport of athletics which is open for those in the junior age category (19 years or under). It is organized by the South American Athletics Confederation (C ...

Career

He competed at the

2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the seventh edition of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held in Lille Métropole, France, with stadium-based events at Stadium Lille-Métropole in Villeneuve d'Ascq, on 6� ...

and placed fourth. He topped the podium at the

2011 South American Junior Championships in Athletics The 39th South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Medellín, Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Car ...

with a national junior record mark of – he was the youngest entrant at the event. At the

2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1993 or later) which was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on 10–15 ...

he improved his record to in qualifying, but performed less well in the final and finished ninth. He began to throw with the senior-weight discus that year and was the winner of the

2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics The 2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics were held in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo from 22 to 23 September 2012. They were the 5th edition of the competition, organised under the supervision of the C ...

. He won at the

National Games of Colombia The National Games of Colombia, known in Spanish as the ''Juegos Deportivos Nacionales'', is the premier multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many differen ...

with a personal best of .Mauricio Ortega
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-03-20. Ortega established himself at the senior level in 2013. He won his first Colombian senior title in June and took the bronze medal at the

with a personal best of . The

2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships The 2013 Pan American Junior Championships was held at the Estadio Alfonso Galvis Duque in Medellin, Colombia, from 23–25 August. The competition was originally scheduled for 2–4 August in Lima, Peru. Lima was ruled out as the host and the da ...

was hosted in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

and he came second to

Hayden Reed Hayden may refer to: Places Inhabited places in the United States *Hayden, Alabama *Hayden, Arizona *Hayden's Ferry, former name of Tempe, Arizona *Hayden, California, former name of Hayden Hill, California *Hayden, Colorado *Hayden, Idaho *Hayden ...

with a junior personal best of . He improved further to a South American junior record and championship record of to win gold at the

2013 South American Junior Championships in Athletics The 40th South American Junior Championships in Athletics ( es, Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Atletismo de Juveniles) were held from October 18–20, 2013 at the Estadio Jaime Zapata in Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina.Biscayart, Eduardo (2013-10-21) ...

, which was also in Colombia. A Colombian senior record came at the

2013 Bolivarian Games The 2013 Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos''), officially the XVII Bolivarian Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from November 16–30, 2013, in Trujillo, Peru, Trujillo, Peru, with some events held in ...

, where his throw of brought him the gold medal in a games record. He improved the national record to at the

, breaking the games record to take the gold medal.Biscayart, Eduardo (2014-03-17)
Davide and Duco delight big crowd on final day of ODESUR Games
IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-03-20.

Personal bests

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Mauricio Living people 1994 births Colombian male discus throwers Sportspeople from Antioquia Department Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Colombia Pan American Games competitors for Colombia Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Colombia South American Games gold medalists for Colombia South American Games medalists in athletics Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Colombia Competitors at the 2014 South American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 South American Games Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games South American Championships in Athletics winners Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Ibero-American Championships in Athletics winners South American Games gold medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Colombian people