The colombian Caterine Ibargüen wins the award for the best athlete of the year

The leaper colombian Caterine Ibargüen said Tuesday the status of indestronable that you enjoy for years in your country to be chosen as the best athlete of 2018 by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF), only the second time that Latin america gets the distinction. At the gala held in Monaco went the distance runner kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, recordman of marathon.

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Caterine Ibargüen achieved the gold medal in the triple jump The triple smile Caterine Ibargüen of Colombia and Venezuela, a battle in three bottles

Ibargüen, gold medal in triple jump in the olympics of Rio 2016, capped off a year flawless. The savvy athlete in colombia, 34 years old, he won the powers of length and triple jump in the recent central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, and performed the feat to win these two titles in the League of Diamond in two different cities in the space of 24 hours.

"I would like to thank all my fans and all of Colombia for this award. The support I receive from the people of my country is enormous," said Ibargüen, a figure wildly popular, while he admitted that the legs trembled to receive an award that "has a very sweet taste".

it Was the fifth time that the antioqueña aspired to officially award: in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and returning now to the bid -already among the five finalists - after his Oslobet absence in 2017, when his path crossed the venezuela's Yulimar Rojas to clinch the world title in London.

The athlete colombian has grown hand-in-hand technicians cubans. Rule Sandrino led in Medellin, the leap in all its versions: length, height, and triple, and when you have graduated from a nurse at the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico, was rescued for the athletics by Ubaldo Duany, which has become the best leaper of triple on the planet.

A break 15,17 meters gave him the olympic gold in Rio, four years after having won the silver in the olympics of London. Since that final in london, Caterine chained to 33 consecutive victories in high-level competition. Won the league Diamond in the specialty of triple in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the world championships in Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015, and achieved his current personal record (to 15.31) July 8, 2014 precisely in Monaco. He only lost in Birmingham, on the 5th of June 2016, once again before the Kazakh Olga Rypakova, the same that he had private the gold in London 2012.

"I Think that I will end my sports career after the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, but this fills me with a great hope to continue giving results for Colombia, and continue with discipline in this sport, that is what keeps me in spite of the pain," said Ibargüen. When asked if she will compete in the long jump and the triple jump at the World cup to be held next year in Doha, had maintained the suspense: "It's top secret," he replied.

this Is the first time that Ibargüen will be crown as the best athlete of the year by the IAAF, and it happens on the trophy to the belgian athlete Nafissatou Thiam. The antioqueña becomes the second Latin american to receive the award, 29 years after the success of the cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot.