These are the 11 medals won by Aragon in the Olympic Games

With just one day to go before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Aragon region will have eight representatives with a chance of competing for a medal. Esther Briz (rowing), Begoña García (field hockey), Salma Paralluelo (football), Luis Domínguez (swimming), Inés Bergua and Alba Bautista (rhythmic gymnastics), Pablo Abián (badminton) and Jaime Pradilla (basketball) are the Aragonese who are part of the expedition of 382 Spanish athletes.

They all have a common goal: to win a medal for their country. Spain has a total of 171 medals in the history of the Olympic Games and ten of them were won by athletes from Aragon. We have to go back 48 years to see the first Aragonese medal, when José María Esteban Celorrio won silver in the K4 1,000-metre canoeing event in Montreal 76.

The Spanish field hockey team managed to climb to the second step of the podium in Moscow 80 , where the Aragonese José Miguel García was . In Russia, David López Zubero also won bronze after finishing third in the 100-metre butterfly event. Today, the first medallist in the national aquatic sport continues to break records. Last March, Zubero broke the 3,000-metre mark in the +65 age category, as well as breaking the record in the 1,500-metre and 800-metre steps.

MICHAEL JORDAN, EXECUTIONER OF THE GOLD OF EPIFANIO AND ARCEGA

The American dream also reached the Olympic competition with the celebration of Los Angeles 84. In that edition Aragón celebrated a historic double. Juan Antonio San Epifanio and Fernando Arcega won the silver with the Spanish basketball team. Spain played the final against the host and all-powerful United States and a very young Michael Jordan snatched the gold medal from them after winning by a crushing 96-65.

BARCELONA 92, ARAGONESE GLORY BATHED IN GOLD

It would take eight years to see an Aragonese athlete on the podium again, but the wait was worth it. In 1992, one of the most important moments in the history of Spanish sport was experienced with the Barcelona 92 ​​Olympic Games. This was the edition in which the national team won the most medals. One of the 22 medals contains the only gold medal ever won by an Aragonese athlete. Martín López Zubero , younger brother of the Moscow 80 medallist, David López Zubero, achieved Olympic glory after winning the 200-metre backstroke event.

The Olympic Cauldron was lit with a burning arrow on this day at Barcelona 1992. 🔥

As archery kicks off today at #Paris2024, we’re throwing back to that unforgettable moment.🏹✨@worldarchery pic.twitter.com/G9YiuJmZmD

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 25, 2024

THE TRIPLE FEAT OF CONCHITA MARTÍNEZ

One of the most successful Spanish athletes at the Olympic Games is the tennis player from Aragon, Conchita Martínez . In addition to being the national tennis player with the most individual titles (33), including a Wimbledon, Conchita Martínez has three Olympic medals to her name. In Barcelona 92 ​​she won silver with her partner and Spanish tennis legend, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. The couple would repeat the feat, winning bronze in Atlanta 96. The last medal won by the tennis player from Aragon was the silver obtained in Athens in 2004 with her doubles partner, Virginia Ruano.

In 2012, London was the place where the only medal of the past decade won by an Aragonese athlete at the Olympic Games was witnessed. Andrea Blas was part of the water polo team , which won silver after losing in the final to the United States (8-5).

JESUS ​​VALLEJO, LAST OLYMPIC MEDALIST

Real Madrid player Jesús Vallejo is the latest Aragonese athlete to win an Olympic medal. The defender from Zaragoza was captain of the Spanish under-21 football team that won the silver medal after losing in the final against Brazil at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.