Sofía Gómez Uribe (; born 15 April 1992) is a Colombian

freediver Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath- ...

and

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

. She holds six national records in three different freediving disciplines (" depth apneas"), a

Bolivarian Games The Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'', full name ''Juegos Deportivos Bolivarianos'') are a regional multi-sport event held in honor of Simón Bolívar, and organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (''Organización Deport ...

record set at the 2013 Games in Trujillo, Peru, that won her a gold medal in the Women's individual dynamic apnea free-diving event, and a Pan-American record in

dynamic apnea Dynamic apnea is a discipline of competitive freediving, also known as competitive apnea. Dynamic apnea covers two of the eight competitive freediving categories recognised by the AIDA International (International Association for Development of Ap ...

with equipment.

Personal life

Gómez was born in

Pereira Pereira (Portuguese and Galician for "pear tree") may refer to: People * Pereira (surname) Places *Brazil **Pereira (Bahia) (est. 1534) in the present-day Barra neighborhood of Salvador in Bahia **Pereira Barreto, municipality in São Paulo **Pe ...

, Risaralda, Colombia. Her parents Francisco and Mónica are from

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

. Gómez attended the Immaculate Heart of Mary School. In 2001, she took up

synchronised swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

and in 2002, she took up

finswimming Finswimming is an underwater sport consisting of four techniques involving swimming with the use of fins either on the water's surface using a snorkel with either monofins or bifins or underwater with monofin either by holding one's breath or ...

. After finishing high school, Gómez moved to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

for a year and now lives 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 ...

. In 2016, she graduated from the

National University of Colombia at Medellín The National University of Colombia () is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, ...

, and she now works as a

. In 2017, Gómez set up a fundraising campaign to help people in Dominica affected by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

. In 2020, Gómez apologised for

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

and

classist Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense ...

comments made on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

between 2010 and 2011. Goméz is in a relationship with chef Juan Diego Vanegas. The couple announced their engagement in June 2021, and married in March 2022.

Career

In 2013, a friend encouraged Gómez to take up freediving, a sport that involves

underwater diving Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context ...

without breathing apparatus. After some training, she managed to dive , and decided to take up the sport professionally. In her first year, Gómez attempted to break the Pan-American record for

, but became unconscious after swimming for . In 2014, she broke the dynamic apnea record by swimming for in

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

, Mexico. In 2016, she broke the Pan-American records for the constant weight with fins and free immersion events at the

Vertical Blue Vertical Blue is a freediving competition which has been held annually in The Bahamas at Dean's Blue Hole since April 2008 by freediving world record holder William Trubridge. It is an AIDA International or CMAS in 2021 judged competition and ha ...

competition. In 2017, she broke the CMAS Constant Weight Bi-Fins freediving world record after descending in a time of 2 minutes and 43 seconds, beating Alenka Artnik's previous record of set the previous year in

Kaş Kaş (; el, Αντίφελλος, translit=Antífellos, translit-std=ISO) is a small fishing, diving, yachting and tourist town, and a district of Antalya Province of Turkey, 168 km west of the city of Antalya. As a tourist resort, it is re ...

, Turkey. Two days later, she broke her own world record by diving . At the 2017 CMAS World Championship, Artnik and Ukrainian Nataliia Zharkova both dived . In 2018, Gómez participated in a scientific study to measure her body's functions in extreme conditions. In September 2018, Gómez set a new women's world record with a Constant Weight with bi-fins (CWT) dive to . The record was set under World Underwater Federation (CMAS) rules at the Kas Baska freediving competition in advance of the CMAS World Championships. In 2021, Gómez returned to freediving, having taking a break due to a medical issue and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. She was sponsored by

Grupo Argos Grupo Argos S.A is a Colombian conglomerate with large investments in the cement and energy industries. Its cement company Argos has operations in Colombia, the United States, Panamá, Honduras and the Caribbean. Celsia, its energy company, owns ...

. She came third at the 2022 Vertical Blue event.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gómez, Sofía Colombian freedivers Colombian civil engineers People from Pereira, Colombia 1992 births Living people National University of Colombia alumni Universidad de Medellín alumni Bolivarian Games gold medalists for Colombia