Denia Caballero Ponce (born 13 January 1990) is a Cuban

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competes in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

. She has a personal best of 70.65 metres for the event. She won the gold medal at the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships and was the bronze medalist at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Caballero also was the Central American and Caribbean champion in 2011 and the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

bronze medallist.

Career

Born in

Caibarién Caibarién is a municipality city in the Villa Clara Province, Villa Clara province of Cuba. Caibarién is known as "La Villa Blanca" () for its sands and beaches. They are famous for their "Parrandas" (Carnivals) along with Remedios, Cuba, Reme ...

Villa Clara Province Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering on the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Matanzas Province to the west, Sancti Spiritus Province to the east, and Cienfuegos Province to the Sou ...

, she took part in track and field as a teenager and at the age of eighteen she cleared fifty metres in the javelin for the first time, setting a personal best mark of 52.10 m,Caballero Denia
. IAAF. Retrieved on 26 July 2012. and became the Cuban junior champion. Her family have all been involved in sports, her father as a boxer and her mother as a long jumper. Her uncle, Ricardo Ponce, is a triple jump coach for the Cuban national team. In 2009, she had a succession of personal bests including 56.91 m for fourth at the 2009 ALBA Games and 57.21 m at a meeting in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Barrientos Memorial The Barrientos Memorial () is an annual track and field meeting in Havana, Cuba each May. The event was first held in 1946, in recognition of José Barrientos (a former Cuban Olympic sprinter), who died in an aviation accident the previous year. ...

and '' Olimpiada del Deporte Cubano'' in Havana in 2010 (improving her best mark to 59.30 then 59.92 m). Havana was again the venue for her first throw over sixty metres in 2011, as she had a mark of 60.50 m then won the Barrientos meet a week later with a best of 62.94 m. This earned her a spot at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

and she reached the final round, finishing ninth with a mark of 60.73 m. She had much success regionally that year, winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics The 2011 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The event served as classifiers for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and took place from July 15–17, 2011. It was the fourth time ...

, as well as a bronze medal at the

(an event won by fellow Cuban

Yarelys Barrios Yarelys Barrios Castañeda (also ''Yarelis Barrios Castañeda''; born July 12, 1983, in Pinar del Río) is a discus thrower from Cuba. Career She won the ''Diamond Race'' in the women's discus throw of the IAAF Diamond League both in 2010 a ...

). A throw of 65.60 m in March 2012 lifted her to fourth in the world rankings and she was later chosen to perform in the discus alongside Barrios in 2012 Cuban Olympic squad. At the 2013 World Championships, she finished 8th. She won the gold medal at the

2014 Central American and Caribbean Games The 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games were held November 14–30, 2014 in Veracruz, Mexico.Sport page< ...

with a new games record. The record had been set in 1982 by fellow Cuban Maria Betancourt. In 2015, as well as setting a new personal best, she won the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

, and produced a shock upset, beating pre-competition favourite Sandra Perkovic to win the World Championship. Caballero was the first Cuban discus thrower to win the World title. She won the bronze medal at the women's discus throw event at the

Personal bests

Achievements

References

External links