Sixth edition Women’s Olympic Festival had a record participation of girls, mainly in the stage of sports development of 15 disciplines belonging to the federal programming Puerto Rico Olympic Committee (Kopur).

“You are making history! They broke participation records. We see that the field is too small for us to receive them. There are many girls competing for the first time today. Cheers to you and your family who came early to see you compete” said Sara Rosario, president of Copur, during her welcome speech to the 945 participants gathered at the Albergue Olímpico field in Salinas.

On the first of two days of the Festival, handball, baseball, football, judo, karate, wrestling, water polo, softball, taekwondo, table tennis, shooting and archery were contested. On Sunday, about 35 young men will compete in badminton, fencing and shooting.

Consecration to pioneers

Kapoor recognized six women who paved the way in two fields of sports: medicine and refereeing. Top Three Women Stand Out at the Sports Health and Exercise Center (SADCE)

Rebecca Rodriguez: He has 29 years of experience in medicine. Specialist in family and sports medicine. He is currently working at the School of Medicine of the Medical Sciences Campus (RCM) in a residency program in private practice at his office in Caguas. Since 1995, she has been part of the SADCE Medical Team, where she was the Medical Leader of the delegations to the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games.

Anita Rivera: is an exercise physiologist who is particularly interested in the athletic performance of elite athletes. He arrived at SADCE in the Department of Physiology in 1988. Since then, he has conducted numerous studies improving the athletic performance of Puerto Rican athletes. She is a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine and the Department of Physiology at the RCM School of Medicine and Visiting Professor at UPR, Río Piedras Campus.

Denmark Vega: Golden Olympic physiotherapist. In 1996, he started working at SADCE. He has extensive experience in national and international medical services. In 1998, its medical coverage began with Puerto Rico’s delegation to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, assigned to Olympic gold medalist tennis player Monica Puch.

Three more women were awarded

Neidi Tavarez: Taekwondo referee. She is an engineer by profession. She is the first referee (male or female) to attend the Olympic Games: London 2012, Nanjing 2014, Rio de Janeiro 2016. She won the award for the best referee at the Taekwondo World Championships and is a member of the World Taekwondo Hall of Fame. .

Maniliz Segarra: Doctor of Philosophy in Management and Educational Leadership. In addition to having Olympic experience in judo, she is a gymnastics coach, where she pursued a career as an international judge, reaching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Angelique Rodriguez: He was able to use his knowledge as the representative of Puerto Rico in diving, reaching the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, he became a diving judge.

Special recognition

The The Women’s National Baseball Team was honored during the Women’s Olympic Festival by Copur President Sara Rosario. The ninth qualified for the 2023 World Cup in Canada during the previous World Cup held in Venezuela in 2022.

This is the third time a ninth Puerto Rican has achieved such a prestigious classification. Previous participation was in the 2010 and 2018 editions.

The women’s baseball team was honored during the Women’s Olympic Festival. (supplied)

Players recognized were: Nahali Rivera, Zoe Collaso, Lisandra Berrios, Jonalize Ayala, Luz Feliciano, Kiara Resto, Alanis Rodriguez, Eva Torres, Noelia De Jesus, Angelis Rivera, Jenny Ortiz, Tiesz Diaz, Diamilette Quiles, Adrix Paradiso, Alondra Aguayo, Janilize Rivera, Danna Gonzalez, Mirielis Adorno, Nairi Sanchez and Catiria Davila. The coaching staff included Carlos Ferrer, Edwin Garcia, Roberto Rivera, Juan Rodriguez, Mario Alisea, Jose Colon, Nicolas Rivera and Migdalia “Daily” Moctezuma.