The star of Dominican track and field, Marileidy Paulino, is the number one ranked athlete on the list of Dominicans who have earned their trip to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Joining the world champion 400m star are gymnast Audrys Nin Reyes, boxer Junior Alcantara, men’s U-23 football (soccer), and women’s volleyball. Athletes in judo, karate, tae kwon do, and weightlifting are still on track to win a spot on the roster of Olympic athletes.
This coming week, the men and women of the judo team will be participating in a tournament in Tokyo to earn points towards an Olympic berth.
Due to the effects of the Covid pandemic, two continental games, the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador and the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, became qualifying events for Paris 2024.
The Dominican Republic has been attending the Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964 when Alberto Torres in the men’s 100 m took part. The country has won 12 Olympic medals, with two golds going to the great Feliz Sanchez in the men’s 400 m hurdles. There have been five silver medals and four bronze medals. The first-ever Olympic medal was boxer Pedro Julio Nolasco in the Los Angeles games.
Paris 2024 will be the second Olympic Games for Marileidy Paulino. She won silver in the 400m and a silver in the 4 x 400 mixed relay in the Tokyo games that were held in 2021.
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El Caribe
27 November 2023