Ariana Gabriela Orrego Martínez (born 25 September 1998)[3] is a Peruvian former artistic gymnast. She represented Peru at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. She was the first ever Peruvian gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games. She is a six-time gold medalist at the South American Championships.

Ariana Orrego
Full nameAriana Gabriela Orrego Martínez
Nickname(s)Ari
Country represented Peru
Born (1998-09-25) 25 September 1998 (age 26)
Lima, Peru
Height5 ft 1 in (155 cm)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team2012–2022
ClubExcalibur Gymnastics
College teamIowa State (2018-22)
Head coach(es)Gustavo Moure
Retired26 July 2022[2]
Medal record
South American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2014 Cochabamba Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Cochabamba Vault
Gold medal – first place 2014 Cochabamba Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 2016 Lima Vault
Gold medal – first place 2016 Lima Uneven bars
Gold medal – first place 2019 Santiago Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 2014 Cochabamba All-around
Silver medal – second place 2014 Cochabamba Balance beam
Silver medal – second place 2014 Cochabamba Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 2019 Santiago All-around
Silver medal – second place 2019 Santiago Floor exercise
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Santiago Team

Early life

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Orrego was born on 25 September 1998 in Lima.[4] She began gymnastics when she was six years old.[5] She was invited by American-based coach Gustavo Moure to train at the Excalibur Gymnastics club in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and she moved to the United States alone at age 15 to train with Moure.[6] She lived with a host family in Virginia and was homeschooled.[7]

Career

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At the 2013 South American Junior Championships, Orrego tied for fourth place in the all-around and also placed fourth on the vault and uneven bars and fifth on the floor exercise. The Peruvian team also finished in fourth place behind Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. She won a bronze medal on the balance beam behind Brazilian gymnasts Flávia Saraiva and Rebeca Andrade.[8]

Orrego competed on the balance beam and the floor exercise at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships but did not advance into the event finals.[9] She then competed in the all-around at the 2014 Pan American Championships, contributing the Peruvian team's eleventh-place finish.[10] Orrego finished thirty-first in the all-around.[11] Then at the 2014 World Championships, she helped the Peruvian team place thirty-fourth out of the thirty-eight teams.[12] After the World Championships, she competed at the Medellin World Challenge Cup and finished eighth on the uneven bars.[13] Then at the 2014 South American Championships, she helped the Peruvian team win the gold medal, and Orrego won the silver medal in the all-around behind Argentine Ailen Valente.[14] In the event finals, she won gold on the vault and uneven bars and silver on the balance beam and floor exercise.[15]

Orrego represented Peru at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto and finished thirteenth in the all-around final.[16] She then competed at the 2015 Osijek World Challenge Cup, finishing fourth on the uneven bars and sixth on the balance beam.[17][18] Then at the 2015 World Championships, she finished sixty-second in the all-around during the qualification round and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Test Event, the final opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.[19][20]

Orrego competed at the 2016 Olympic Test Event and finished forty-eighth in the all-around and qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games.[21][22] She competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro becoming the first Peruvian gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games.[4][5] She finished fiftieth in the all-around during the qualification round.[23] After the Olympic Games, she competed at the 2016 South American Championships in Lima and won gold medals in the vault and uneven bars event finals. She also finished fourth in the all-around and sixth on the floor exercise.[24]

While in Rio for the Olympic Games, Iowa State assistant coach Nilson Medeiros who was there coaching Venezuelan gymnast Jessica López invited Orrego to consider competing for the Iowa State gymnastics team.[25][7] Orrego joined the team for the 2018 NCAA gymnastics season. During her freshman year, she competed on the floor exercise in eleven out of thirteen meets with a season-high score of 9.875 and was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team.[1] In May, she competed at the 2018 South American Games and finished fifth in the floor exercise event final.[26]

During her sophomore year at Iowa State, Orrego competed in ten meets on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam and scored a career-high 9.800 on the vault twice.[1] Then in June, she competed at the 2019 South American Championships and helped Peru win the team bronze medal behind Argentina and Chile. She won a silver medal in the all-around behind Argentine Abigail Magistrati. In the event finals, she placed sixth on the uneven bars and won gold on the balance beam and silver on the floor exercise.[27] She then competed at the 2019 Pan American Games hosted in her hometown, Lima. The Peruvian team placed fifth in the team competition.[28] She also finished twentieth in the all-around final.[29] She qualified for the balance beam final where she finished eighth.[30] At the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Orrego finished twenty-eighth in the all-around during the qualification round and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games.[31]

Orrego redshirted the 2020 NCAA season to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games.[1] After the Olympic Games were postponed, she returned to Iowa State for the 2021 season and competed in four meets on the balance beam and in two meets on the floor exercise.[32][33] At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Orrego finished seventy-fourth in the all-around during the qualification round.[34] She returned to Iowa State for her senior season in 2022. She competed in all thirteen meets on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She scored a career-high 9.925 on the uneven bars at a quad meet hosted by Northern Illinois University. She ended her NCAA career by scoring a career-high 9.900 on the floor exercise in the NCAA Regionals Second Round.[1]

Orrego announced her retirement from gymnastics on 26 July 2022 on Instagram.[2][4]

Personal life

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Orrego graduated from Iowa State University in May 2022 with a degree in management information systems.[2]

Competitive history

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Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
2013 South American Junior Championships 4 4 4 4   5
Senior
2014
Pan American Championships 11 31
World Championships 34
South American Championships            
2015
Pan American Games 13
Osijek World Challenge Cup 4 6
World Championships 62
2016 Olympic Test Event 48
Olympic Games 50
South American Championships 4     6
2018 South American Games 5
2019 South American Championships     6    
Pan American Games 5 20 8
World Championships 28
2021
Olympic Games 74

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Ariana Orrego". Iowa State Athletics. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Díaz Vásquez, Valery (8 September 2022). "La nueva vida de una campeona de gimnasia en EE. UU" [The New Life of a US Gymnastics Champion]. El Peruano (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  3. ^ "45th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning (CHN) Women's Entry List by NOC" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. International Gymnastics Federation. 6 October 2014. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "¿Quién es Ariana Orrego, la primera gimnasta peruana que llegó a los Juegos Olímpicos?" [Who is Ariana Orrego, the first Peruvian gymnast to reach the Olympic Games?]. La Republica (in Spanish). 28 July 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b Carlos Alcalde, Juan (9 July 2016). "Río 2016: Gimnasta peruana Ariana Orrego buscará abrazarse con la gloria". Andina (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Olympic Solidarity Scholarship springs Orrego toward Tokyo". International Gymnastics Federation. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  7. ^ a b Anderson, Austin (7 February 2018). "The secret Olympian: Ariana Orrego brings Olympic experience to Iowa State". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  8. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (25 August 2013). "2013 South American Junior Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  9. ^ "2014 Pacific Rim Championships April 9-12, 2014 – Richmond Olympic Oval Sessions WAG Team & AA Group 1, WAG Team & AA Group 2, WAG Team & AA" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 9 April 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  10. ^ "2014 Senior Pan American Gymnastics Championships Aug 25 - Sep 1, 2014 – Mississauga Hershey Centre Team Results Senior" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  11. ^ "2014 Senior Pan American Gymnastics Championships Aug 25 - Sep 1, 2014 – Mississauga Hershey Centre Senior" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  12. ^ "45th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning (CHN) Women's Qualification" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. International Gymnastics Federation. 5 October 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  13. ^ Hopkins (8 November 2014). "Peña, Martins Win Gold in Medellín". The Gymternet. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Resultados Sudameriano Mayores de Artistica 2014". Confederación Sudamericana de Gimnasia (in Spanish). 14 December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  15. ^ Confederación Sudamericana de Gimnasia [@consugi_oficial] (14 December 2014). "Women's results" (Tweet). Retrieved 25 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's All-Around Final" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Toronto 2015. 13 July 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  17. ^ "Grand Prix Osijek 2015 Uneven Bars" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Grand Prix Osijek 2015 Balance Beam" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  19. ^ "46th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, Glasgow (GBR) Women's Qualification" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. International Gymnastics Federation. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  20. ^ "Gimnasia: la rutina con la que Ariana Orrego clasificó al Preolímpico" [Gymnastics: the routine with which Ariana Orrego qualified for the Pre-Olympics]. El Poli (in Spanish). 27 October 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around Qualification" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. 17 April 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  22. ^ "List of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics 2016 Olympic Qualifiers" (PDF). Gymnastics Results. International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around Qualification" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Rio 2016. 7 August 2016. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  24. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (20 November 2016). "2016 South American Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  25. ^ Harrington, Andrew (9 May 2022). "An inside look at Iowa State international recruiting". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  26. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (3 June 2018). "2018 South American Games Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  27. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (25 June 2019). "2019 South American Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Qualification and Team Final" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Lima 2019. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  29. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Individual All-Around Final" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Lima 2019. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  30. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's Beam Final" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Lima 2019. 31 July 2019. p. 3. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  31. ^ "Tokio 2020: la gimnasta peruana Ariana Orrego clasificó a los Juegos Olímpicos" [Tokyo 2020: Peruvian gymnast Ariana Orrego qualified for the Olympic Games]. RPP (in Spanish). 6 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  32. ^ "Ariana Orrego: "Llego con más experiencia a Tokio 2020"" [Ariana Orrego: "I arrive at Tokyo 2020 with more experience"]. ESPN (in Spanish). 13 April 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  33. ^ "Orrego Set To Compete In Tokyo Olympics". Iowa State Athletics. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  34. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics Women's All-Around Qualification" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Tokyo 2020. 25 July 2021. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
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