Colombia goes gaga over gymnast Ángel Barajas: From fence jumper to Olympic medalist

As a kid, Ángel Barajas used to jump off fences. His mom knew he’d stick the landing.

Now he’s stuck the biggest landing in his fledgling gymnastics career. The 17-year-old made history on Monday as Colombia’s first gymnast to clinch a medal in the Olympic Games, winning second place in men’s horizontal bar. He’s also the first Colombian to medal in the Paris games.

The teen’s victory was anything but expected. Colombia is a soccer-loving nation where gymnastics is barely acknowledged.

At the event, Barajas earned the same overall score as Japan’s Oka Shinnosuke, who won the gold medal. He slipped to second place because he scored fewer points for execution of his routine and its difficulty level. Barajas was followed by Taiwan’s ​​Tang Chia-Hung and China’s Zhang Boheng, who tied for third place.

Colombians exploded with praise for the young Olympian. Images and videos of Barajas standing on the Olympic podium quickly went viral on social media while politicians congratulated the teen on X. “The great Ángel Barajas makes history and fills his country with pride,” wroteSenator María José Pizarro on X. “Thank you for being an example for millions of youth.”

Other social comments had a lighter touch: “I’m celebrating the medal of a Colombian gymnast I didn’t know existed five minutes ago for a sport that I didn’t know existed five minutes ago,” was another comment on X. “I love you a lot, Ángel Barajas.”

From tough times to a living room salute

Barajas grew up in a single parent household. After his father left when Barajas was 6 years old, his family struggled to make a living. At age 13, his older brother by four years, Jeisson, began working at a pizza parlor to help support his family.

This week, in the crowded living room of his home in Cúcuta, family and friends cheered him on, dressed in black T-shirts emblazoned with his face. A video posted on X showed their tears and chants when he won.

“I’m very happy, very content,” Angélica Díaz, Barajas’ mother, told Colombian media from Paris after Barajas’ victory. “Ángel gave it his all representing the country.”

Inspired by Icelandic TV

So how did young Angel get into a sport that isn’t exactly top of mind in Colombia?

Television was an inspiration. At age 3, Angel would imitate Sportacus, a superhero on LazyTown, an Icelandic TV show popular in Colombia that encouraged children to be physically active. Played by gymnast Magnús Scheving, Sportacus did flashy handstands and backflips.

Determined to be like his idol, Barajas would climb fences and leap to the ground. He learned how to perform cartwheels. He even developed a taste for green apples, one of Sportacus’ favorite foods.

Despite neighbors’ concerns over his safety, his mother was always confident that Barajas would land his jumps unharmed.

In 2011, when he was 5, Barajas’ antics caught the attention of a neighbor, who encouraged him to sign up for gymnastics classes. The sport had in recent decades found a foothold in Cúcuta, thanks to the efforts of coach Jairo Ruiz, who founded a local gymnastics league and has dedicated his life to training up-and-coming Colombian gymnasts.

Barajas' mom didn’t have the money to pay for lessons. To cover training costs, brother, Jeisson, now 22, told local media that he worked two jobs, doubling as a sales representative and a cashier.  

At the private gymnastics school, which now receives some support from the local government and private donors, even the staff made sacrifices. Ruiz, his coach, told Colombian media that he used his retirement savings, which he received in 2012, and sold his car and a plot of land to buy much-needed training equipment and to build a rehabilitation center next to the gym.

At home, Barajas’ mother cooks all his meals according to his nutritional needs and ensures that he goes to bed at 8 p.m. so he gets nine hours of sleep before his early morning training. “She does all the invisible work,” Ruiz told Caracol Radio. Without her support, Ruiz says, Barajas couldn’t have progressed as a gymnast.

All of their work paid off. In 2019, when Barajas turned 15, he joined the Sports Ministry’s competitive Athletic Excellence program, which granted him a monthly salary.

In 2022, Barajas’ dream of success at an international competition came true when he won six gold medals at the South American Youth Games. In 2023, he won silver at the Junior World Championships. His accomplishments, particularly his command of difficult moves, would lead the International Federation of Gymnastics to call him “the most intriguing gymnast that has emerged from any South American country in recent years. ”

Paris triumph

Barajas arrived at the Olympics Games, hoping to clinch a medal for his routine of somersaults and twists that he had spent six months practicing. He was one of 89 Colombian athletes — among them only three gymnasts — to qualify for the Games.

On Monday, Barajas finished his 58-secondroutine, flying high into the air in a twist before catching the bar and moving seamlessly into a double somersault. After nailing a perfect landing to much acclaim from the crowd, Barajas walked off the mat and embraced his coach, whose eyes welled up with tears.

“This was a dream come true,” Ruiz told W Radio, a Colombian radio program, after the event.

He even got a shoutout from his boyhood idol, the gymnast from the TV show LazyTown. Magnús Scheving congratulated Barajas on Instagram: “What an amazing achievement. You are a true superhero and an inspiration.”

Barajas’ victory offers inspiration to aspiring Colombian gymnasts — and has prompted fans to call on the government to provide more financial backing for the sport.

As for the 17-year-old medalist — there is talk of Barajas training abroad in the best facilities to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But right now, basking in the glory of a medal, Barajas is content acknowledging how far he’s come.

“I’ve cried a lot,” Barajas told reporters. “Now … I’m enjoying this beautiful blessing.”

Christina Noriega is a freelance journalist based in Colombia, where she reports on human rights, gender equality and the environment.