BMX cyclist Mariana Pajon won Colombia’s first gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London Friday, securing her country’s seventh medal in what already had become Colombia’s most successful Olympics ever.
The 20-year old athlete won the womens’ finals of the BMX cycling competition.
The Medellin native beat New Zealand’s Sarah Walker and Dutchwoman Laura Smulders who respectively won silver and bronze.
Pajon’s gold medal is Colombia’s second ever at an Olympics; the first was won in 2000 by weightlifter Maria Isabel Urrutia.
The London Olympics by far have become the South American country’s most successful Olympics ever.
Minutes after Pajon, male BMX cyclist Carlos Mario Oquendo won bronze in the men’s category, lifting Colombia’s total number of medals to eight.
The country’s old record was set in 1972 when Colombian athletes brought home three medals. In London, Colombia has so far won one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.