Mariana Pajón

Known as the “Queen of BMX” the two time Olympic gold medalist and BMX World Champion, Mariana Pajón is a Colombian cyclist. She began riding a bike at the age of four and shortly thereafter began winning competitions, the first one being at the age of 5. By 2011, she became a world number one following a year of obliterating success that included World Championship wins in the Pan American Games and Copenhagen and wins in the Colombian, Central American, South American and Latin American national championships.

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Pajón carried the Colombian flag in the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, an Olympic Games where she won a gold medal in the BMX event. When describing her first gold medal win, according to olympics.com, she said the following, “There are so many things going though your head. You feel so proud at winning that medal for the country and making everyone back home so happy. Seeing my flag go up and hearing my national anthem in another country made me feel more Colombian than ever.”

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This was also the Olympic Games in which Pajón wore one white glove and one black glove. When asked about this, according to RedBull.com, she mentioned, “One day I made a mistake with the gloves and ended up winning the World Championship so I thought, ‘Maybe it was because of this’. So I‘ve done it ever since.“ Her by-accident superstition has worked for her ever since as similar success reoccurred in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio where she won her second gold medal in the BMX event.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Pajón won the silver medal.