María Princesa Oliveros Bohórquez (born 10 August 1975) is a Colombian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competes in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

and

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

events. Her personal bests are 13.41 seconds and 56.26 seconds, respectively. She was 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 ...

list in the 400 m hurdles at 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 ...

, at which she also won a

4×400 metres relay A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pro ...

bronze medal in a Colombian record time. She has won numerous hurdles medals at the

South American Championships in Athletics The South American Championships in Athletics is a biennial athletics event organized by CONSUDATLE. The first edition in 1919 was competed between only two countries (Chile and Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, ...

and has reached the podium at the competition in seven different years (from 1999 to 2011, with the exception of 2007). At regional level, she has been a hurdles medallist at the Central American and Caribbean Championships and CAC Games, as well as being a six-time champion at the Bolivarian Games.

Career

Early life

Born in Luruaco,

Atlántico Department Atlántico (, ) is a Departments of Colombia, department of Colombia, located in northern Colombia with the Caribbean Sea to its north, the Bolívar Department to its west and south separated by the Canal del Dique, and the Magdalena Department ...

and raised in Turbo, Antioquia, she initially took an interest in

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. She showed an aptitude for

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

at an inter-school meeting in 1991, but remained more interested in the ball game and represented her municipality in the sport. By the time she went to university, however, she had not grown tall enough to be a professional volleyball player and decided to use her athletic speed for the 400 m hurdles instead. Having come from a poor family, her mother encouraged her to focus on her science studies rather than sport, but Oliveros combined the two as a

student-athlete Student athlete (or student–athlete) is a term used principally in universities in the United States and Canada to describe students enrolled at postsecondary educational institutions, principally colleges and universities, but also at sec ...

and she developed into a regional-class hurdler.Sampedro, Johnny Andrés (2010-05-25)
A la biblioteca para ser atleta
''El Mundo''. Retrieved on 2011-11-04. Oliveros won her first national title in the

in 1997 and won her first international medals soon after, taking both the 100 and 400 m hurdles titles as well as the

title at the

1997 Bolivarian Games The XIII Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'') were a multi-sport event held between October 17–26, 1997, in Arequipa, Peru. The Games were organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO). The opening ceremony that took pla ...

.Colombian Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-04.
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-04. At the

1999 South American Championships in Athletics The 1999 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Coliseo El Salitre in Bogotá, Colombia from June 25–27. Medal summary Men's events Women's events A = affected by altitude Medal table Participation * (1) – gue ...

n the Colombian capital of

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 ...

she won

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

s in both the hurdles events. She won the 400 m hurdles

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the 2001 edition of the competition, but just missed out on the 100 m hurdles medal by coming fourth.South American Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-04. She headed overseas for the 2001 Summer Universiade in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and was a double semi-finalist in the hurdles (including personal bests of 13.46 seconds and 57.19 seconds for the events). She ended the year by retaining all three of her titles at the 2001 Bolivarian Games.

Regional hurdles medals

She had a national winning streak in the hurdles, winning both events three times in succession from 2002 to 2004, then again in 2006. The 2002 season saw her win further international medals in the hurdles: she won 400 m silver and 100 m bronze at the 2002 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics, then reversed those placings for two more medals at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games.Ibero-American Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-04. She was a double bronze medallist at the 2003 South American Championships in Athletics and also competed in the heats at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games, officially the XIV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santo Domingo 2003, were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the Games was made in the mid-1990 ...

. A 100 m hurdles bronze at the 2004 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics was her sole highlight in the following year. In 2005, she was the 100 m hurdles runner-up at the South American Championships, where she was fourth in the longer race. In her third consecutive appearance at the 2005 Bolivarian Games, she missed out on defending her hurdles titles as fellow Colombian Brigith Merlano beat her in the 100 m final while Ecuador's Lucy Jaramillo edged her into second place in the 400 m hurdles. Oliveros had a trio of fifth places in the hurdles and relay events at the 2006 CAC Games. She was fifth again in the 400 m at the 2006 South American Championships, although she left that competition with a silver medal from the 4×400 m relay.Princesa Oliveros
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2011-11-04.

Pan American gold medal

After a low-key 2007, the 32-year-old Oliveros ran her fastest 400 m hurdles time in almost five years to claim the silver medal 2008 CAC Championships in

Cali, Colombia Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

with a run of 57.44 seconds. She also helped the relay team to fourth place in the final. She began to increasingly focus on the 400 m hurdles at championship events and (following two doping disqualifications) she won a bronze medal at the 2009 South American Championships and a silver at the 2009 Bolivarian Games later that year. In 2010, she competed sparingly, but managed to win the Colombian 400 m hurdles title. At the age of 35, Oliveros reached the form of her life in the 2011 season. In

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

she ran a 100 m hurdles best of 13.41 seconds on 30 April, then ran 57.43 seconds for the 400 m hurdles the following day (the third best run of her career at that point). She was twice runner-up to Brazil's Jailma de Lima at the 2011 South American Championships, first in the 400 m hurdles and then in the 400 m relay. A month later she was a 400 m hurdles finalist at the 2011 CAC Championships, coming sixth in the competition. She won the first major title of her career at the

: running at altitude in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, she improved her personal best by almost a second to take the 400 m hurdles

in a time of 56.26 seconds. She then teamed up with Norma González, Evelis Aguilar and (400 m winner) Jennifer Padilla for the 4×400 m relay and the Colombians received the bronze medal with a Colombian national record time of 3:29.94 minutes.Robinson, Javier Clavelo (2011-10-29)
Robles 13.10, Borges 5.80m and Ibarguen 14.92m in Guadalajara - Pan American Games, Day 6

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2011-11-04.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliveros, Maria Princesa Living people 1975 births Colombian female hurdlers Colombian female sprinters Sportspeople from Atlántico Department Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Colombia Pan American Games gold medalists for Colombia Pan American Games bronze medalists for Colombia Pan American Games athletes for Colombia Pan American Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Colombia Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Colombia Competitors at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century Colombian sportswomen Bolivarian Games gold medalists for Colombia Bolivarian Games medalists in athletics