Héctor Cotto González (born August 8, 1984) is a Puerto Rican Olympic athlete specializing in the 110 meters hurdles.

Background

Cotto was born in

Fajardo, Puerto Rico Fajardo () is a town and a municipality part of the San Juan-Caguas-Fajardo Combined Statistical Area in Puerto Rico. Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and ...

. His family moved to

Irondequoit, New York Irondequoit () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town (and census-designated place) in Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the cotermi ...

, where he attended East Ridge Senior High School. When his family moved to

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, Wake, Chatham County, North Carolina, Chatham, and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh-Cary, NC M ...

, he attended Green Hope High School and graduated in 2002. At Green Hope High, Cotto played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, ran

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, and earned several all-conference honors for track. His personal best for the 110 and 55 meter hurdles ranked him at 11th in the nation in 2002. As of 2015, Cotto still holds several Green Hope High School records in track. Cotto attended Fayetteville State University, but transferred to

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

after one year. While at ECU, he broke their records for the 60 and 110 meter

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

Olympics

After graduation from ECU, Cotto began his professional career representing

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. He competed in the 110 meter hurdles in both the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the London Olympics in 2012. He also competed in the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial sport of athletics, athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations ...

in 2007, 2009, and 2011.

Competition record

Personal bests

Cotto holds the Puerto Rican national record for 110m hurdles and the 60m hurdles. Of hurdling, he says, "Running is the easy part. To me it’s always been about the technique. The ultimate goal is to be so efficient over the hurdles that you can let loose and just run when you race. That’s when hurdling is fun. That’s what all the hard work is for.”

Outdoors

*100m 10.37 (+1.4 m/s) (Walnut 2010) *110m hurdles 13.49 (+1.6 m/s) (Guadalajara 2011)

Indoors

*60m hurdles 7.71 (Flagstaff 2014)

Awards and honors

Cotto won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

for 110m hurdles at the

Ibero-American Championships The Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') is a biennial athletics competition for athletes representing Ibero-American countries as well as a number of other Spanish- or Portuguese-spea ...

in 2010, followed by the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

for 110 m. hurdles in 2012. In 2015, Green Hope High School inducted Cotto into the first class of their Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal life

As of 2015, Cotto coaches track & field at William G. Enloe High School in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. He also helps train other coaches through his online ''Hurdle Rhythm Training Series,'' training workshops, and ''The Hurdle Magazine.''

References

External links

* * 1984 births Living people Puerto Rican male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for Puerto Rico Olympic track and field athletes for Puerto Rico East Carolina University alumni Sportspeople from Fajardo, Puerto Rico Sportspeople from Cary, North Carolina Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Puerto Rico Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics 21st-century Puerto Rican people 21st-century American sportsmen {{PuertoRico-athletics-bio-stub