Yulimar Rojas
Who was Yulimar Rojas?
Yulimar Rojas is a triple jump world record holder and Olympic champion who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming Venezuela's second Olympic gold medalist.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Yulimar Rojas (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Yulimar Rojas Rodríguez was born on October 21, 1995, in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. She is a professional track and field athlete and holds the world record in the women's triple jump with a distance of 15.74 meters (51 ft 7½ in). Nicknamed "the queen of the triple jump," she is the most decorated Venezuelan athlete in the sport and one of the greatest triple jumpers ever.
Rojas grew up in a poor area of Venezuela with limited access to sports facilities and equipment. Despite these challenges, she showed talent in multiple events as a teenager, including high jump and sprinting. Coaches noticed her potential and encouraged her to focus on athletics. She progressed quickly in the triple jump, setting Venezuelan national records from 2014 onward, and has continued to improve them since.
In 2015, Rojas moved to Guadalajara, Spain, to train with Cuban-born Olympic champion coach Iván Pedroso. The change was groundbreaking. Within a year, she won her first World Indoor Championship title at the 2016 Portland Games. She followed this with an outdoor World Championship gold at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London. Over the next few years, she dominated the event, winning four outdoor World Championship titles — London 2017, Doha 2019, Eugene 2022, and Budapest 2023 — and three World Indoor Championship titles in Portland 2016, Birmingham 2018, and Belgrade 2022.
The highlight of her career so far was at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rojas won the gold medal in the women's triple jump, becoming Venezuela’s second-ever Olympic gold medalist. In the same event, she broke the world record with a jump of 15.74 meters, surpassing the previous record set in 1995. This performance cemented her as the leading figure in her event. She has been recognized beyond athletics as well, receiving the Venezuelan Order of José Félix Ribas — First Class, and making the BBC 100 Women list in 2022.
Before Fame
Yulimar Rojas grew up in a challenging environment in Venezuela, where poverty and lack of infrastructure made regular athletic training hard. As a youngster, she tried different sports but didn't have a clear route to top-level competition. Local coaches and PE teachers noticed her outstanding coordination and explosive physical talent and guided her towards track and field. She started with high jump and short sprints but eventually moved to the triple jump.
Her early success in the triple jump caught national attention and led to her joining Venezuela's athletics development program. By 2014, she was breaking national records and gaining international notice. Moving to Spain in 2015 was the turning point that turned an up-and-coming athlete into a world-class competitor, giving her access to top coaching, modern facilities, and a competitive training setting that she couldn't find at home.
Key Achievements
- Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
- Women's triple jump world record holder at 15.74 metres, set in 2021
- Four-time World Athletics Champion (2017, 2019, 2022, 2023)
- Three-time World Athletics Indoor Champion (2016, 2018, 2022)
- Named to the BBC 100 Women list in 2022
Did You Know?
- 01.Her world record jump of 15.74 metres at the Tokyo Olympics broke a mark that had stood for 26 years, set by Ukraine's Inessa Kravets in 1995.
- 02.She trains in Guadalajara, Spain, under coach Iván Pedroso, himself a four-time World Champion and Olympic gold medalist in the long jump.
- 03.Rojas is also known by the alternate spelling Yolimar Rojas, a variant used in some early records and documentation.
- 04.She began competing seriously in the long jump again in 2021 after several years focusing exclusively on the triple jump.
- 05.Her gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made Venezuela only the second time in the country's history that a Venezuelan athlete had won an Olympic gold medal.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| BBC 100 Women | 2022 | — |