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

freediver Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode 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 i ...

. 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 Deporti ...

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 in competitive freediving in which athletes swim horizontally underwater on a single breath, aiming to cover the greatest possible distance. Performances take place in swimming pools and are governed by organization ...

with equipment.

Personal life

Gómez was born in Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia. Her parents Francisco and Mónica are from

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

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

synchronised swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

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 Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

for a year and now lives 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 ...

. In 2016, she graduated from the National University of Colombia at Medellín, 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 an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

. 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 (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

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 of ...

comments made on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

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 (disambiguation), diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meani ...

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, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

, Mexico. In 2016, she broke the Pan-American records for the constant weight with fins and free immersion events at the Vertical Blue 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 () is a small fishing, diving, yachting and tourist town, and a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,750 km2, and its population is 62,866 (2022). It is 168 km west of the city ...

, 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 taken a break due to a medical issue and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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, Panama, Honduras and the Caribbean. Celsia, its energy company, owns h ...

. 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 Colombian female divers