Irving Saladino

Upon his return following his glorious performance at the 2008 Olympics, the President of Panama declared that a sports facility at Villa Deportiva in Juan Diaz would be named after Saladino.

His alma mater Professional and Technical Institute of Columbus (IPTC) named the campus gym after him.

He was born on January 23, 1983 in Colon, Panama to David and Cristina Saladino. His mother is an educator, while his father — an electrician by profession — represented the regional baseball team in a number of national championships.

His athleticism had been evident right from the time he was in elementary school. Seeing his innate talent, his brother encouraged him to try his hand at track and field. While he showed immense potential on track, he would still find time to play his other favorite sport, baseball.

As a novice, he started out with sprinting, but switched to long and triple-jumping following the advice of his first coach, Florencio Aguilar, who believed there was more to his pace than running.

Upon encouragement from Aguilar, Saladino decided to enter in international tournaments, making his first appearance in the 2002 Central American Junior Championships held in Guatemala. His performance at the event earned him major accolades as he went on to win gold medals for both long-jump and triple-jump.

The same year, he took part in the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championship held at Barbados. While he earned a bronze medal for long-jump, he was placed sixth in the triple-jump event.

Later in 2002, he participated in the World Junior Championship in Jamaica, but could only secure the tenth position. He ended the year well when he won gold for long-jump, silver for triple-jump and bronze in the 4x100 meter relay race at the Central American Championship in Costa Rica.

At this point, he decided to concentrate primarily on long-jump. The decision paid off at the 2003 South American Games held in Venezuela, where he won a bronze medal. The following year, he went back to Venezuela to play in the Under-23 South American Games and scored gold.

He made it to the 2004 Athens Olympic, but could not make it past the qualifying round. A year later, he followed up his Olympic debacle with another disappointing show at the World Championships held in Finland, where he could only manage the sixth spot.

He won gold medal in Long Jump in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with a jump of 8.34m.

After his 2008 Olympic gold win, the President of Panama awarded Saladino $50,000.

He carried Panama’s flag at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.