Track and Field

Track and Field

Track and Field

Track and field originated in the Dominican Republic in 1946, when the country participated in the Fifth Central American and Caribbean Games, held in Barranquilla, Colombia.

At the time, the Dominican retinue was composed of 10 people: eight athletes, one trainer and one delegate.

The athletes who participated in these games were Elpidio Jiménez, Alejandro Quírico, Bienvenido Abreu, Antonio Lora, Moisés Cohen, Texido Domingo Pichardo, Angel María Acosta y Angel María Mezquita.  Jaime Díaz was the trainer and Braulio Méndez, the delegate.

The Federación Nacional de Atletismo (National Federation of Track and Field) was created March 21, 1953 with the objective of participating in the Seventh Central American and Caribbean Sporting Games that were to be held in Mexico the following year.

The Dominican Republic has participated in the following Central American and Caribbean Games

Barranquilla, Colombia, 1946
Mexico City, Mexico, 1954
Kingston, Jamaica, 1962
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1966
Panama City, Panama, 1970
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1974
Medellin, Colombia, 1978
Bahamas, 1986
Mexico City, Mexico, 1990
Ponce, Puerto Rico, 1993
Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1998
San Salvador, El Salvador, 2002

The Dominican Republic has participated in the following Pan American Games

Mexico City, Mexico, 1955
Chicago, United States, 1959
Cali, Colombia, 1971
Mexico City, Mexico, 1975
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1979
Caracas, Venezuela, 1983
Indianapolis, USA, 1987
Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1995
Winnipeg, Canada, 1999
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2003

Olympic Games

Tokyo, Japan, 1964
Mexico City, Mexico, 1980
Los Angeles, United States, 1984
Atlanta, United States, 1996
Sydney, Australia, 2000
Athens, Greece, 2004

At the Olympics in Greece, Félix Sánchez won the first gold medal for the Dominican Republic in the 400 meter hurdles.

Information supplied by the Federación Nacional de Atletismo.

High performance athletes

Félix Sánchez (runner)

Félix Sánchez was born in New York, but is the son of Dominicans that emigrated to the United States.

The current Olympic champion in the 400 meter hurdles decided to represent the Dominican Republic when he finished in sixth place in the qualifying rounds in the United States in 1999, which prevented him from gaining a spot on the team for the World Championships in Spain.

El actual campeón Olímpico de los 400 metros con vallas decidió representar a República Dominicana cuando finalizó en el sexto lugar en las clasificatorias de Estados Unidos en el año 1999, lo que le impidió ganar la plaza para el Mundial de Sevilla.

Sánchez broke the United States’ winning streak of two decades, which began with Edwin Moses’s win in the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

The athlete was undefeated from 2001, but finally lost in the penultimate competition of the European Golden League in 2004 after suffering a left knee sprain 200 meters from the finish line. 

His streak was 43 consecutive victories. (See table)

The Dominican also won world titles in track in 2001 and 2003.

El atleta estuvo invicto desde el año 2001, perdiendo dicha condición en la penúltima competencia de la Liga Dorada europea del año 2004, tras sufrir una lesión en la pierna izquierda faltando 200 metros para alcanzar la meta.

Su racha fue de 43 victorias consecutivas. (Ver cuadro)

El dominicano también ganó los mundiales de atletismo en el 2001 y 2003.

Juana Arredenel (jumper)

Juana Arrendel was born September 26, 1978 to Pedro Rosario and Argentina Arrendel.

Arrendel was discovered in the San Pedro de Macorís sports complex by Coach Luciano Alvarez, who saw in the 14 year old all of the qualities necessary to win in track and field, in the high jump.

Despite having little experience in the high jump, Arrendel represented Sultana del Estein the National Games in San Juan ’92 and won her first medal.  The jumper was one of the privileged students of the Academia Nacional de Atletismo, created in 1993 and directed by the Cuban Bernardo Clark.

Wanda Rijo (weightlifter)

Wanda Rijo was born November 26, 1976 in San Pedro de Macorís.

She took her first steps in weightlifting in 1997 in her hometown and her first competitions were at the National Games in Mao, Valverde.

After that, she entered the PARNI program, which was then coached by the current Secretary of Sports, Felipe Payano.

Shortly after, Rijo joined the National Weightlifting team and participated in her first international event.

The Dominican took home the gold medal by lifting 75 kilos in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1998. 

One year later, she participated in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, where she faced weightlifters from 42 countries.

Rijo remained among the top 10 weightlifters in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

She won the gold medal at the Pan-American Games 2003, held in the Dominican Republic.

Félix Sánchez, King of the Hurdles

Olympic champion of the 400 meter hurdles (with a time of 47.63).  “Súper Sánchez” is a landmark in the history of Dominican sports, as he gave the Dominican Republic its first Olympic gold medal since 1962, when it began its Olympic participation with a one-person, symbolic delegation.  With this medal, the country has earned a total of two medals from the Olympic Games.  The first was bronze, won in 1984 in boxing.

Félix Sánchez dominated the international circuit of his sport for three consecutive years, remaining the leader of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) ranking for 202 weeks, making him one of the athletes with the longest stay at the top of any track and field event.  His series of 43 consecutive wins, begun July 4, 2001, included winning two world competitions in track, in the Pan-American Games in 2003 and in a gathering of the Golden League and in the Olympic Games of 2004, held in Athens.

His participation in the Olympics was witnessed by millions of Dominicans that literally halted their duties and put aside their problems to watch the fastest Dominican run to victory.  For his win, the President of the Republic decorated him with the Orden de Duarte, Sánchez y Mella at the rank of Gran Caballero, and he was recognized as a “National Sports Hero” by the National Congress.  The Olympic Stadium of the city of Santo Domingo has been named in his honor.

Son of Dominican parents, Félix Sánchez was born in New York August 30, 1977.  He has a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Southern California.

List of Sánchez’s 43 consecutive victories

Biografías tomadas de la página de la Secretaría de Estado de Deportes