Lorena Quiñones (born 26 July 1996) is a Puerto Rican artistic gymnast who represented her country at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, England.

Gymnastic career

Lorena Quiñones Moreno was born in

Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo (the ...

, on 29 July 1996. At the age of 15, and while still attending the Petra Mercado Bougart School in Puerto Rico, took part in the 2012 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

in London, England. This acted as one of the qualifiers for the Summer Olympics, which was to take place later that year in London. She finished in 61st place in the women's

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

, with a score of 49,298. This was sufficient to qualify Quiñones for the Olympics, making her the first female gymnast from Puerto Rico to do so. The only gymnasts to compete for the country were men previously, at the 2004 and

2008 Summer Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Her score also broke the record for the highest score set by a female Puerto Rican gymnast. Upon her return, the Mayor of Humacao, Marcelo Trujillo, said that he was already discussing with the Puerto Rican Government to ensure that there is funding available to allow Quiñones' parents to attend the London Games with her. Her parents travelled with her to the Games, where she competed but did not place on the podium. Her mother expressed the view that it was a learning experience, and that Quiñones was still young enough that she had two more Olympics yet in her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinones, Lorena category:Living people Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Puerto Rican female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Humacao, Puerto Rico 1996 births Olympic gymnasts for Puerto Rico