Venezuela at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Infobox Olympics Venezuela
games=2004 Summer
competitors=48 (33 men and 15 women)
sports=15
flagbearer=Julio César Luña
officials=
gold=0
silver=0
bronze=2
total=2
rank=68

Venezuela competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.Weightlifter Israel Jose Rubio won the nation's first medal of these Games when he placed third in the 62kg class. It was Venezuela's eighth medal in Olympic history, but the first since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Medalists

Results and competitors by event

=Athletics=

Victor Castillo was the only Venezuelan to place in the top half of an Athletics event, and came only 7 centimetres short of a spot in the final 12.

Men's 400 metres:
* Luis Luna
**Round 1: 47.92 s (6th in heat 8, did not advance, 49th overall)

Men's 5000 metres:
* Freddy Gonzalez
** Round 1: 13:42.44 (13th in heat 2, did not advance, 28th overall)

Men's Marathon:
* Luis Fonseca
** Did not finish

Fonseca pulled out between the 15 and 20 km checkpoints, crossing the 15 km checkpoint 97th.

Men's Long Jump:
* Victor Castillo
**Qualification: 7.98 metres (8th in Group B, did not advance, 15th overall)

Men's Javelin Throw:
* Manuel Fuenmayor
** Qualification: 72.26 metres (15th in Group A, did not advance, 30th overall)

=Boxing=

Venezuela sent seven boxers to Athens. Five of them lost their first matches, while the two in the heavier weight classes each won their first round (one by walkover, however) before falling in their second match.

Men's Light Flyweight (48kg):
* Miguel Angel Miranda Guerra
** Round of 32: Lost to Yan Bhartelemy Varela of Cuba (outscored; Round 3, 1:30)

Men's Flyweight (51kg):
* Jhonny Mendoza
** Round of 32: Bye
** Round of 16: Lost to Paulus Ambunda of Namibia (19 - 39)

Men's Bantamweight (54kg):
* Alexander Espinoza
** Round of 32: Bye
** Round of 16: Lost to Andrew Kooner of Canada (20 - 37)

Men's Light Welterweight (64kg):
* Patrick López
** Round of 32: Lost to Michele di Rocco of Italy (30 - 37)

Men's Welterweight (69kg):
* Jean Carlos Prada
** Round of 32: Lost to Sherzod Husanov of Uzbekistan (20 - 33)

Men's Light Heavyweight (81kg)):
* Edgar Muñoz
** Round of 32: Defeated Mario Sivolija of Croatia (31 - 23)
** Round of 16: Lost to Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus (10 - 18)

Men's Heavyweight (91kg):
* Wilmer Vasquez
** Round of 16: Defeated Ertugrul Ergezen of Turkey (walkover)
** Quarterfinal: Lost to Odlanier Solis Fonte of Cuba (4 - 24)

=Cycling=

Road cycling

Unai Etxebarría was the most notable Venezuelan cyclist at the 2004 Olympics, as he joined a leading group of 10 at the 146 kilometre mark of the Men's Road Race, later attacked this group, leading to the formation of a group of 6 at the start of lap 13 (160 kilometres) before being caught by the peloton at the 185 kilometre mark, with Etxebarría finishing in the middle of the pack.

Men's Road Race:

* Unai Etxebarría
** 5:41:56 (34th overall, 0:12 behind)

* José Isidro Chacón Diaz
**did not finish

Chacon was part of a group of 10 riders that stopped on lap 12 of 17.

Track cycling

Larreal crossed the line fifth in the classification race of the Women's Sprint, but was disqualified for causing a crash behind her, involving Lithuania's Simona Krupeckiate.

Women's Individual Sprint:
* Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos
**Qualification: 11.597 s (8th overall)
**1/8 Finals: Defeated Yvonne Hijgenaar of Netherlands (1 - 0, 11.849 s)
**Quarterfinals: Lost to Lori-Ann Muenzer of Canada (0 - 2, 12.064 s, 11.888 s)
**5th-8th Classification: Disqualified

=Diving=

Ramon Fumado badly missed his first dive of the semifinal, a forward 1 1/2 somersault in the pike position, scoring an average of around 3.0 points. A dive in the 8.0s would have put him very close to qualifying for the final.

Men's 3 metre Springboard:

* Ramon Fumado
** Preliminary: 410.97 (14th overall, 'Qualified')
** Semifinal: 194.82 (Total: 605.79) (17th overall, did not advance)

=Fencing=

As expected from the relative seedings, Silvio Fernández was the only Venezuelan fencer to progress beyond the Round of 16, and held eventual gold medalist Fischer close before succumbing. Three of the four Venezuelans lost to an eventual finalist.

Men's Épée Individual:
* (9) Silvio Fernández
**Round of 64: Bye
**Round of 32: Defeated (24) Xie Yongjun of China (15 - 13)
**Round of 16: Defeated (7) Zhao Gang of China (15 - 12)
**Quarterfinals: Lost to (2) Marcel Fischer of Switzerland (13 - 15)

Men's Foil Individual:
* (32) Carlos Rodríguez
**Round of 64: Defeated (33) Mostafa Anwar of Egypt (15 - 7)
**Round of 32: Lost to (2) Salvatore Sanzo of Italy (7 - 15)

Women's Foil Individual:
* (17) Mariana Gonzalez
**Round of 32: Defeated (15) Erinn Smart of United States (14 - 2)
**Round of 16: Lost to (1) Valentina Vezzali of Italy (4 - 15)

Women's Sabre Individual:
* (18) Alejandra Benitez
**Round of 32: Lost to (15) Zhang Yin of China (9 - 15)

=Judo=

Venezuelan judokas put up a record of 4-13 at the Athens Games, with female heavyweight Giovanna Blanco having the most success; a 2-2 record and a quarterfinal appearance.

Men's 60 kg (Extra-Lightweight):
* Reiver Alvarenga
**Round of 32: Lost to Benjamin Darbelet of France (Penalty points; 2 shidos)

Men's 66 kg (Half-Lightweight):
* Ludwig Ortíz
**Round of 32: Lost to Yordanas Arencibia of Cuba (Sode-tsurikomi-goshi; waza-ari) (advanced to first repechage round)
**Repechage Round 1: Defeated Heath Young of Australia (Kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame; ippon - 4:14)
**Repechage Round 2: Lost to Joao Pena of Portugal (Kata-guruma; yuko)

Men's 73 kg (Lightweight):
* Richard León
**Round of 32: Lost to Victor Bivoi of Cuba (Sode-tsurikomi-goshi; waza-ari) (advanced to first repechage round)
**Repechage Round 1: Lost to Hamed Malekmohammadi of Iran (Sukui-nage; ippon - 1:54)

Men's 90 kg (Middleweight):
* José Gregorio Camacho
**Round of 32: Lost to Eduardo Costa of Argentina (Sode-tsurikomi-goshi; waza-ari)

Men's +100 kg (Heavyweight):
* Leonel Wilfredo Ruíz
**Round of 32: Lost to Charalampos Papaioannou of Greece (Yoko-shiho-gatame; ippon - 1:00)

Women's 52 kg (Half-Lightweight):
* Flor Velázquez
**Round of 32: Bye
**Round of 16: Lost to Georgina Singleton of Great Britain (Penalty points; 2 shidos)

Men's 66 kg (Half-Lightweight):
* Rudymar Fleming
**Round of 32: Lost to Kie Kusakabe of Japan (Ippon-seoi-nage; yuko)

Women's 78 kg (Half-heavyweight):
* Keivi Pinto
**Round of 32: Defeated Sisilia Naisiga Rasokisoki of Finland (Ouchi-gari; yuko)
**Round of 16: Lost to Noriko Anno of Japan (Kuzure-kesa-gatame; ippon - 2:52) (advanced to first repechage round)
**Repechage Round 1: Bye
**Repechage Round 2: Lost to Lucia Morico of Italy (Kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame ; ippon - 1:47)

Women's +78 kg (Heavyweight):
* Giovanna Blanco
**Round of 32: Bye
**Round of 16: Defeated Eva Bisseni of France (Tani-otoshi; yuko)
**Quarterfinal: Lost to Dayma Beltran of Cuba (Sumi-otoshi; ippon - 2:43) (advanced to second repechage round)
**Repechage Round 2: Defeated Karina Bryant of Great Britain (Penalty points; 3 shidos)
**Repechage Round 3: Lost to Insaf Yahyaoui of Tunisia (Kuzure-kesa-gatame; ippon - 2:41)

=Sailing=

Flores Perez's best placing in an individual race was 11th in the 4th race of the Mistral competition.

Men's Mistral:

* Carlos Julio Flores Perez
** 232 points (25th overall)

=Shooting=

The lone Venezuelan shooter had the dubious honour of finishing last in both shooting events she entered.

Women's 25 metre Pistol:
* Francis Gorrin
**534 points (37th overall, did not advance)

Women's 0 metre Air Pistol
*Francis Gorrin
**358 points (41st overall, did not advance)

=Swimming=

Double Pan Am Games gold medalist Ricardo Monasterio was unable to advance from either of his heats, with the only one of the four Venezeulan swimmers being Luis Rojas in the 100 metre Freestyle.

Men's 50 metre Freestyle:
* Luis Rojas
** Heat: Did not start

Men's 100 metre Freestyle:
*Luis Rojas
** Heat: 49.69 s (14th overall, "Qualified")
** Semifinal: 49.85 s (15th overall, did not advance)

Men's 200 metre Freestyle:
* Albert Subirats [Albert Subirats (17 years, 325 days) was the youngest member of the Venezuelan team at the 2004 Summer Olympics]
** Heat: 1:53.11 (38th overall, did not advance)

Men's 400 metre Freestyle:
* Ricardo Monasterio
**Heat: 3:54.41 (23rd overall, did not advance)

Men's 1500 metre Freestyle:
* Ricardo Monasterio
**Heat: 15:20.89 (15rd overall, did not advance)

Men's 100 metre Butterfly:
*Luis Rojas
** Heat: 54.58 s (36th overall, did not advance)

Women's 50 metre Freestyle:
* Arlene Semeco
** Heat: 26.20 s (27th overall, did not advance)

Women's 100 metre Freestyle:
* Arlene Semeco
** Heat: 57.04 s (29th overall, did not advance)

=Table Tennis=

The Venezuelan doubles team came back from down 3 sets to 2 to defeat their Chilean opponents, but couldn't muster a set win in the second round against the Americans.

Women's Singles:
* Fabiola Ramos
** First Round: Lost to Laura Negrisoli of Italy (9 - 11, 5 - 11, 6 - 11, 11 - 8, 3 - 11)

Women's Doubles:
* Fabiola Ramos and Luisana Perez
** First Round: Defeated Berta Rodriguez and Maria Paulina Vera of Chile (12 - 14, 11 - 8, 6 - 11, 11 - 7, 11 - 13, 11 - 5, 11 - 7)
** Second Round: Lost to Tawny Banh and Jun Gao of United States (3 - 11, 4 - 11, 6 - 11, 7 - 11)

=Taekwondo=

No woman or martial artist had ever won an Olympic medal for Venezuela, but Adriana Carmona changed all that by winning bronze in the Over 67kg division. Carmona lost a close quarterfinal to the eventual gold medal winner, but fought her way through the repechage before handily beating her Brazilian opponent to claim bronze. The only other match win from the Venezuelan taekwondo team was from another woman, Dalia Contreras.

Men's Under 68kg:
* Luis Alberto Garcia
**Round of 16: Lost to Diogo Silva of Brazil (5 - 6)

Men's Over 80kg:
* Luis Noguera
**Round of 16: Lost to Abdelkader Zrouri of Morocco (5 - 8)

Women's Under 49kg:
* Dalia Contreras
**Round of 16: Defeated Maya Arusi of Israel (5 - 1)
**Quarterfinal: Lost to Ivett Gonda of Canada (2 - 3)

Women's Over 67kg:
* Adriana Carmona
**Round of 16: Defeated Sarah Stevenson of Great Britain (8 - 8, Superiority)
**Quarterfinal: Lost to Chen Zhong of China (5 - 7) (advanced to first repechage round)
**Repechage Round 1: Defeated Yoriko Okamoto of Japan (5 - 2)
**Repechage Round 2: Defeated Nadin Dawani of Jordan (11 - 8) (advanced to bronze medal match)
**Bronze Medal Match: Defeated Natalia Silva of Brazil (7 - 4) (Bronze Medal)

=Tennis=

Vento-Kabchi entered the Olympic tournament as the #31 ranked player in the world, but was comprehensively beaten over 64 minutes by eventual champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, despite breaking Henin's serve in the third game of their match.

Women's Singles:
* Maria Vento-Kabchi
**Round 1 defeated Anne Kremer of Luxembourg (6 - 3, 6 - 4)
**Round 2 lost to (1) Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium (2 - 6, 1 - 6)

=Triathlon=

Venezuela's only competitor in the 2004 Olympic triathlon was a veteran of the 2000 competition. He improved his ranking by one place.

Men's Competition:
* Gilberto Gonzalez [Gilberto Gonzalez (33 years, 255 days) was the oldest member of the Venezuelan team at the 2004 Summer Olympics]
**1:59:12.20 (→ 36th place)

=Weightlifting=

Israel José Rubio won Venezuela's first ever medal in weightlifting by virtue of his lower body weight (61.38 kg), after he tied with Armenia's Armen Ghazaryan in total weight lifted. Rubio was 5th after the Snatch, but made his lift of 162.5 kg in the Clean & Jerk, while Indonesia's Gustar Junantio failed two attempts at that mark, and Ghazaryan skipped it entirely, then missed twice at 170.0 kg. At 94 kg, Julio César Luna Fermin would have finished third in the Clean & Jerk alone, but struggling in the Snatch had already cost him a shot at a medal. Octavio Mejías missed only one lift in the 77kg division, but his weights were nowhere near those of the leaders.

Men's 62 kg:
* Israel José Rubio
**295.0 kg (132.5 kg Snatch, 162.5 kg Clean & Jerk) (Bronze Medal)

Men's 77 kg:
* Octavio Mejías
**342.5 kg (155.0 kg Snatch, 187.5 kg Clean & Jerk) (12th overall)

Men's 94 kg:
* Julio César Luna Fermin
** 390.0 kg (170.0 kg Snatch, 220.0 kg Clean & Jerk) (5th overall)

=Wrestling=

Freestyle

Caripa was defeated in all three matches handily, twice by superiority, and managed only a single technical point in her matches.

Women's 48 kg:
* Mayelis Caripa
**Pool 4
***Lost to Lorisa Oorzhak of Russia (0 - 7)
***Lost to Li Hui of China (0 - 10)
***Lost to Patricia Miranda of United States (1 - 11)
**4th in pool, did not advance (1 TP, 1 CP, 12th overall)

Greco-Roman

Barreno also failed to win a match, but his 9-3 loss to Galstyan was the Venezuelan wrestling team's best result of the Games.

Men's 120 kg:
* Rafael Barreno
**Pool 1
***Lost to Hayzak Galstyan of Armenia (3 - 9)
***Lost to Yannick Szczepaniak of France (0 - 10)
**3rd in pool, did not advance (3 TP, 1 CP, 16th overall)

Officials

*President: Mr. Fernando Romero Mazzeo
*Secretary General: Mr. Leonardo Rodriguez

Remarks

References

* [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2004/Results/ Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/VEN/summer/2004/ sports-reference]