Former Peruvian gymnast of the highest calibre, Ariana Gabriela Orrego Martinez (born September 25 in Lima). She will compete in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 as the first Peruvian gymnast ever to earn Olympic qualification.
She has also competed for Peru at international events like the Pan American Games and the World Championships. She started college at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, and participated on the gymnastics team there in the fall of 2017.
It’s About Her Profession
At the 2014 World Cup in Medellin, Colombia, Orrego made her senior national team debut on uneven bars, finishing in eighth place. At the World Cup in Osijek the following year, she finished in fourth and sixth place on bars and beam, respectively, but she did not advance to the event finals in Varna.
During the summer, she went to Canada to compete in the Pan American Games, where she ended up placing thirteenth overall. After that, she went to Scotland to take part in the World Championships, where she ultimately failed to get to the finals of her event.
In the first competition of 2016, Orrego competed in the Cottbus World Cup, where he ultimately came up short and did not advance to the tournament’s final round. She went to Brazil in April to take part in the Olympic Trials.
She finished 48th overall, which was good enough to qualify her for the Olympics as an individual competitor. She went to the Anadia World Cup in late June, but didn’t place high enough to go to the finals.
Olympiads in Rio
In the fourth group of qualification events, Orrego began on the balancing beam. She finished in 75th position on the uneven bars and tied for 65th on the balancing beam and 50th on the floor exercise.
In the 2017 fall semester, Orrego enrolled at Iowa State University.
2018-2019
Orrego spent his academic year at Iowa State and his summers fighting for Peru on the international stage. She went to the 2018 South American Games, where she and her team finished in fifth place in the floor exercise and fifth place overall.
She competed with the Peruvian team at the South American Championships in 2019 and helped them finish third overall, while also finishing in the top six on balance beam, second on floor, and first in the all-around.
In July, she competed at the Lima Pan American Games, where she earned a 20th place finish overall, an 8th on beam, and a 5th with the Peruvian team. She went to the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany in October to participate. She made it to the Olympics as an individual after finishing 84th in her qualifying round.
In the 2021
The COVID-19 outbreak caused Orrego to miss the 2020 season. A year later, at the Olympics in Tokyo, she was back in action. She was part of the third division and began with vault. She finished the all-around competition in 74th place, failing to qualify for the further individual competitions.