Omar Andrés Pinzón García (born June 17, 1989) is a competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who represented

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, Greece and

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

in Beijing, China. Pinzón attended college in the United States, where he swam for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, Pinzón finished in thirty-fifth place in the men's 200-meter

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

. Pinzón competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in Beijing in the 100 and 200-meter backstroke, the 200 and 400-meter individual medley, and the 200-meter butterfly. His best 2008 Olympic performance was in the 200-meter backstroke, where he placed seventeenth with a time of 1:59.11.Sports-Reference.com, Olympic Sports
Omar Pinzón
Retrieved August 5, 2010. Pinzón was born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Distrito Capital, Colombia. He attended The Bolles School in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, and graduated from Gimnasio Britanico high school in Chía in 2005. Pinzón received an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he swam for coach Gregg Troy's Florida Gators swimming and diving team in

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) competition from 2006 to 2010. In his four-year Gator swimming career, Pinzón received twelve

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors. Pinzón won his first gold medal at a Swimming World Cup in Singapore in 2011 in the 200-meter backstroke. Pinzón then won gold medals in Shanghai and Tokyo in the 200-meter

. Pinzón tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

in November 2012 and was subsequently banned from competing for two years. In 2014, however, after an appeal to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

, the suspension was overturned due to several inconsistencies in the testing process. He returned to the competition in 2014 to represent his country at the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for 32 countries and ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinzon, Omar 1989 births Living people Florida Gators men's swimmers Expatriate swimmers in the United States Male backstroke swimmers Male butterfly swimmers Male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers for Colombia Sportspeople from Bogotá Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2011 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Colombian sportspeople in doping cases Swimmers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia Pan American Games swimmers for Colombia Pan American Games silver medalists in swimming Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Colombia Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Colombia Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Colombia Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games South American Games gold medalists for Colombia South American Games silver medalists for Colombia South American Games bronze medalists for Colombia South American Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2018 South American Games Competitors at the 2022 South American Games Swimmers at the 2019 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2023 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 20th-century Colombian people 21st-century Colombian sportsmen Colombian male swimmers Bolivarian Games gold medalists for Colombia Bolivarian Games medalists in swimming Bolivarian Games silver medalists for Colombia Bolivarian Games bronze medalists for Colombia

See also

References

External links