Costa Rica at the Olympics
The Costa Rican flag was first made an appearance when they sent Bernardo de la Guardia to be their sole representative for fencing in 1936. Their national Olympic committee (ComitĂ© OlĂmpico Nacional de Costa Rica) was formed on the same year so joining the Summer Games on the same year was indeed a stretch.
Costa Rica then missed the next four Summer Games coming back only in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan with two athletes. From this point on, Costa Rica has never missed the Summer Games. But they had to wait until the 1988 Seoul Summer Games before they could win their very first Olympic medal.
Swimmer Silvia Poll took the silver in the women's 200 meter freestyle thus becoming Costa Rica's first-ever Olympic medalist. Eight years later, her sister Claudia Poll will go on and become Costa Rica's first Olympic gold medalist when she won in exactly the same event in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Claudia Poll then went on and won two more Olympic medals in 2000 when she took the bronze medal in both the 200 and 400 meter freestyle in Sydney, Australia.
Costa Rica has also participated in the Winter Games since 1980 missing only the 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014 Winter Games.
Related Pages
- Costa Rica at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About sport in Costa Rica
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