Ángel Barajas is an Olympic medalist. The 17-year-old became the first Colombian to achieve an Olympic medal in the gymnastics discipline by winning a silver in the high bar competition on Monday, August 5th. He is also the youngest medalist in a men’s individual event since 1988. And he was so, so close to gold too.
Barajas, after all, had the same score as the new Olympic champion, Shinnosuke Oka, 14.533. The tiebreaker, however, went to Oka, who had a higher execution score. That means Barajas got silver while Oka was awarded the gold.
The Colombian got the silver medal with a clean routine and a very good landing on a bumpy high bar event where most of the favorites suffered falls. Barajas, who came in with a very high difficulty level, delivered when it counted the most and got a medal for it.
The Cúcuta native was considered one of the big promises of gymnastics, but very few expected that promise to materialize quite so early. He won four medals at the 2023 World Junior Championships, including gold on parallel bars and floor, silver in the all-around competition, and bronze on the high bar.
Barajas was also the first Colombian gymnast to be crowned junior world champion, but at just 17 years old (he will turn 18 the very day after the Closing Ceremony), it felt like perhaps the Olympic games had come a little too soon for him. On August 5th, however, Ángel Barajas saw an opportunity and went out and seized it. And got a medal to show for it.