The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Costa Rica

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This page contains a list of the greatest Costa Rican Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 1 of which were born in Costa Rica. This makes Costa Rica the birth place of the 142nd most number of Athletes behind Martinique, and Ghana.

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Costa Rican Athletes of all time. This list of famous Costa Rican Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Nery Brenes

1. Nery Brenes (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 26.05, Nery Brenes is the most famous Costa Rican Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Nery Antonio Brenes Cárdenas, (born September 25, 1985) is a Costa Rican sprinter. He is one of Costa Rica's most prominent track and field athletes and reached the semi-finals at the 400 m sprint in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Brenes won the gold medal at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, setting a new national and championship record. "Brenes improved his personal mark by approximately one second, something nobody expected on a championship, taking the gold medal", cited his trainer and motivator Andrés Oro Fijo Calderón. He has participated in major events like the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan, and achieved a 4th-place finish at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. He also finished in 3rd place at the 2008 ÅF Golden League meet in Oslo, Norway.

Photo of Andrea Vargas

2. Andrea Vargas (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 0.00, Andrea Vargas is the 2nd most famous Costa Rican Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Andrea Carolina Vargas Mena (born 28 May 1996) is a Costa Rican athlete specialising in the sprint hurdles. She is the current NR holder with a time of 12.64 seconds, which was set at the IAAF World Championships in Doha 2019. She represented her country at the 2018 World Indoor Championships without advancing from the first round. She participated in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, achieving first place in 100 meter hurdles. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Her personal bests are 12.64 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles (Doha 2019) and 8.19 seconds in the 60 metres hurdles (Boston 2018).

Photo of Leilani McGonagle

3. Leilani McGonagle (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Leilani McGonagle is the 3rd most famous Costa Rican Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Leilani McGonagle (born 14 November 1999) is a Costa Rican professional surfer who competes in the World Surf League. Her brother Noe Mar McGonagle is also a professional surfer.

Photo of Kenneth Tencio

4. Kenneth Tencio (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 0.00, Kenneth Tencio is the 4th most famous Costa Rican Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Kenneth Tencio Esquivel (born 6 December 1993) is a Costa Rican freestyle or freestyle BMX cyclist. He is an athlete known in Costa Rica for participating in BMX freestyle competitions in the X-Knights, winning the silver medal in the 2018 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships and for qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

People

Pantheon has 4 people classified as Costa Rican athletes born between 1985 and 1999. Of these 4, 4 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Costa Rican athletes include Nery Brenes, Andrea Vargas, and Leilani McGonagle. As of April 2024, 3 new Costa Rican athletes have been added to Pantheon including Andrea Vargas, Leilani McGonagle, and Kenneth Tencio.

Living Costa Rican Athletes

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Newly Added Costa Rican Athletes (2024)

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