Antioquian sprinter Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno has triumphed at the Paris Paralympic Games by taking first place in the 100-meter T38 athletics event after crossing the finish line in just 12.26 seconds, a new world record.
Karen Tatiana is a phenomenon in Paralympic sport. In the last year and a half she has won fifteen gold medals in all types of competitions.
Last year, she had won five medals at the Parapan American Games in Santiago and three golds at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris. She also already held world records and had been named female Para athlete of the year at the Panam Sports Awards 2023 and best Colombian Paralympic athlete at the El Espectador newspaper’s Sportswoman of the Year award. All she needed was a Paralympic title to finish making history.
She is the daughter of María Eugenia Moreno, a single mother from Chocó who has lived in Medellín, in the La Iguaná neighborhood, since she was a child, and who works selling arepas de choclo con quesito (corn and cheese arepas) in the vicinity of the stadium in the capital of Antioquia.
Raúl Díaz, also from Chocó, was Karen Tatiana’s physical education teacher at the local school and is her coach. “I always saw her as an athlete with all the potential,” he said.
Paralympic champion Karen Tatiana is 30 years old and studied Social Work at the Technological Institute of Antioquia. Her mother says that when she went into labor she took a taxi and went to the San Vicente Hospital in Medellin, but that Karen Tatiana was born on the way and inside the vehicle. The baby did not receive oxygen to the brain for several seconds and that caused hemiparesis, a condition that affects her balance and mobility on the left side. That is why she competes in the T38 category, dedicated to athletes who have slightly limited movement and coordination in the lower part of the torso and legs.
Karen Tatiana began athletics at the age of eight, with the Chocó coach Raúl Díaz. She first participated in conventional tournaments, but over time accepted the suggestion to move on to para athletics.
After her triumph in the 100 metres at the Paris Paralympics, super champion Karen Tatiana said that “other competitions are coming up”. In the coming days, she will compete in the 400 metres T38 and the women’s long jump T38.
Colombia has started these Paralympics in the best possible way. On Friday, early in Colombia, a man from Valle del Cauca and a woman from Antioquia won the first medals: José Gregorio Lemos won gold in the F38 javelin throw and Érica Castaño collected another gold medal in the F55 discus throw. Since then, the achievements have not stopped coming. Swimmers Nelson Crispín and Carlos Serrano won a silver and a bronze in the 200-meter Individual Medley SM6 and the men’s 100-meter breaststroke SB7, respectively. Then, Juan Alejandro Campás won a bronze in athletics, in the men’s 100-meter T38. Now, with the achievements of Palomeque and Jiménez, the country has seven medals in total.
The Paralympic Games began on Wednesday and will run until September 8. They bring together the elite of Paralympic sport, a group of more than 4,000 athletes competing in 22 disciplines. This year’s Colombian delegation breaks the record for participation, with 78 athletes, 47 men and 31 women. Led by athletics and swimming, Colombia is present in 10 disciplines. It will try to surpass the record of Tokyo 2020, when it collected 24 medals: three gold, seven silver and 14 bronze.