Now that all athletes who represented Costa Rica at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics have returned, organizers are reflecting on the country’s long-running medal drought.
Costa Rica has participated in 19 Summer Olympics and 10 Winter Olympics. The historic medal count stands at four: one gold, one silver and two bronze. The last time Costa Rica brought back hardware was in 2000, when the Olympics were hosted in Sidney, Australia.
For the Rio 2016 Olympics, Costa Rica sent 11 athletes. History was made with the first Women’s Beach Volleyball team to qualify; alas, the best efforts of Natalia Alfaro and Karen Cope were no match for the top teams of Australia and Brazil.
Cyclist Andrey Amador, who was a leader of the Giro D’Italia for the Movistar Team, ranked 54 in an extremely challenging road race that ran through old cobblestone streets not far from favelas. More than half of racers failed to cross the finish line. Milagro Mena did not finish her race; she was called in at the last minute to participate after Russian cyclists were dismissed due to that country’s doping scandal.
Marie Meza ranked 36th in the 100-meter butterfly swim event.
Miguel Murillo had an intense judo match against the World Champion; he ranked 32nd.
Nery Brenes ranked 17th in the 400-meter race, then ranked 6th. Days later, he ranked 8th and then 6th in the 200-meters race, which almost placed him in the same heat as Jamaican legend Usain Bolt.
Roberto Sawyer was hard on himself as he ranked 24th in hammer throw.
Sharolyn Scott ranked 40 in the 400-meter hurdle event.
Leonardo Chacon finished 30th in the triathlon. He explained that this was his retirement race as age is starting to take its inevitable toll on performance.
Andrey Fonseca wrapped up the Olympics for Costa Rica ranked 33rd in the cross-country mountain bike race, which he said was more challenging and technical than he expected.




