Érica María Castaño Salazar (born 9 October 1985) is a Colombian para-athlete, who competes in the F55 category, which is for seated athletes with no leg function, partial upper body function and full arm function.

Background

Castaño has a spinal cord injury after she was shot at a shopping mall in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

, Colombia in December 2008. Her brother, Carlos Rousselvelt, is also a para-athlete, and has the same injury after a similar incident five months earlier. She began para-athletics in 2014, and made her international debut during the

2015 Parapan American Games The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for Disabled sports, athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tra ...

. She is married to Edward Ortiz, and works as a lawyer.

Career

Castaño participated in the

, where she won three medals. In shot put she won bronze in class F53/54/55, and in discus she won bronze in class F54/55. In the javelin throw, she won silver, only beaten by Angela Madsen of the United States. The following year, she participated in the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

, where she came fourth in the discus (F55) and eighth in the javelin throw (F56). Castaño participated in the

2017 World Para Athletics Championships The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic athletics, Paralympic track and field meet organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held at London Stadium in London from 14 ...

in Athletics in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she won silver in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

in the F55 class, behind Diāna Dadzīte of Latvia, and she won silver in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

, where Dadzite also won this class. There, she set area records for the Americas in the discus with 21.30 metres, and in the shot put with 7.77 metres. Castaño participated in the

2019 Parapan American Games The 2019 Parapan American Games (), officially the VI Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 ParaPan-Am Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Parapan Am ...

in Lima, Peru, and came second in discus in the F55 class, behind Rosa Maria Guerrero from Mexico. In the javelin throw she came fourth, and in the shot put she came fifth. At the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

, Castano won the F55 Discus event with a throw of 26.70 metres.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castano, Erica 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Medellín Colombian female discus throwers Colombian female javelin throwers Colombian female shot putters Paralympic athletes for Colombia Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Colombia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Wheelchair discus throwers Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters 21st-century Colombian sportswomen Parapan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Parapan American Games gold medalists for Colombia Parapan American Games silver medalists for Colombia Parapan American Games bronze medalists for Colombia