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Coming to into the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Colombia’s Caterine Ibarg\u00fcen was the nation’s biggest hope to claim a Gold Medal<\/strong> in the triple jump; a gold which would represent only Colombia’s fourth gold medal in their Olympic history and the country’s first ever in athletics. Well, last night in Rio\u00a0Ibarg\u00fcen only went and did it! Colombia has their second gold medal of the 2016 Olympic Games<\/strong>, and\u00a0Ibarg\u00fcen is now the World and Olympic champion in the triple jump! But who is\u00a0Caterine Ibarg\u00fcen?<\/strong><\/p>\n Caterine Ibarg\u00fcen was born on February 12, 1984 in the town of\u00a0Apartad\u00f3 in the\u00a0Urab\u00e1 region of Antioquia department<\/strong>. The young Caterine hardly had an easy childhood. She was largely raised by her grandmother Ayola Rivas (who could, in perhaps the most emotional moment of last night’s medal win<\/strong>, be seen celebrating on television back in\u00a0Apartad\u00f3), after her parents, Francisca and William, split up due to Colombia’s armed conflict<\/strong>. William moved to Venezuela and Francisca to nearby Turbo. Her grandmother often struggled to put food on the table, but Caterine was a good student at San Francisco de\u00a0As\u00eds College in her hometown. She started off playing volleyball before being discovered by her first coach Wilder Zapata and switching to athletics.<\/strong> It would turn out to be a smart move…<\/p>\n\n