ATHLETES from Venezuela

Top 4

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

1. Yulimar Rojas (1995 - )

With an HPI of 33.87, Yulimar Rojas is the most famous Venezuelan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages on wikipedia.

Yulimar Rojas Rodríguez (also known as Yolimar Rojas; born 21 October 1995) is a Venezuelan athlete who holds the world record for women's triple jump, at 15.74 m (51 ft 7+1⁄2 in). She is the current Olympic champion, a four-time World Champion (2017 London, 2019 Doha, 2022 Eugene and 2023 Budapest), and three-time World Indoor Champion (2016 Portland, 2018 Birmingham and 2022 Belgrade); she is nicknamed la reina del triple salto – queen of the triple jump. Since 2014 she has held, and continued to beat, Venezuelan national records in triple jump and long jump. She is a recipient of the Venezuelan Order of José Félix Ribas – First Class. Raised in a deprived area of Venezuela, Rojas was successful in other sports as a teenager but struggled to practice due to lack of resources. Encouraged to move into athletics, she excelled in high jump and sprinting before developing an affinity for the triple jump. She moved to Guadalajara, Spain, in 2015 to continue her athletics training under coach Iván Pedroso, and became dominant in the event. After several years specialising only in the triple jump, she began seriously competing in the long jump again in 2021.

2. Félix Hernández (1986 - )

With an HPI of 30.81, Félix Hernández is the 2nd most famous Venezuelan Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Félix Abraham Hernández García (born April 8, 1986), nicknamed "King Félix", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners from 2005 through 2019. On August 15, 2012, Hernández threw the 23rd perfect game in MLB history against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1–0 victory at Safeco Field. It was also the first perfect game in Seattle Mariners franchise history. His perfect game remained the most recent in Major League Baseball until Domingo Germán's perfect game in 2023. On April 23, 2016, Hernández claimed the record for most strikeouts by a Mariners pitcher when he struck out Rafael Ortega of the Los Angeles Angels for his 2,163rd strikeout as a Mariner pitcher. The previous record of 2,162 strikeouts had been held by Randy Johnson. Hernández's 146th win, which occurred on May 9, gave him the club record in that category as well, surpassing Jamie Moyer.

3. Dalia Contreras (1983 - )

With an HPI of 22.44, Dalia Contreras is the 3rd most famous Venezuelan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Dalia María Contreras Rivero (born September 20, 1983) is a Venezuelan taekwondo practitioner. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in taekwondo. She also competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing 8th in her weight class. She won a Silver Medal at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo In the 2002 South American Games in Brazil she finished in the second place in her category (Finweight –47 kg), but the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR) gave only gold medals in that category. Finally, in the 2006 South American Games in Buenos Aires, she won the gold medal. Notwithstanding, that year ODESUR gave the silver and bronze medals

4. Robeilys Peinado (1997 - )

With an HPI of 19.68, Robeilys Peinado is the 4th most famous Venezuelan Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Robeilys Mariley Peinado Méndez (born 26 November 1997) is a Venezuelan athlete whose specialty is pole vaulting. She won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in London. In addition, she won multiple medals in several age categories. Peinado started off as a gymnast but switched to pole vault aged 12 as she was getting too tall for the sport. Her personal best in the event is 4.70 metres set in Cochabamba in 2018. This is the current national record.