Great Latinamerican Athletes: Venezuela Edition

As any Venezuelan would tell you, the most popular sports in their country are baseball and basketball, which is weird considering that they are very American disciplines. However, we are not here to talk about politics, but rather some of the greatest current Venezuelan athletes that you may not know. Despite the crisis in that country, some of them continue to perfect their craft and achieve impressive results. Here they are:

Ronald Acuña Jr. Sport: Baseball

ESPN ranks Ronald, born in La Guaira, Venezuela, as the eight-best current player in the MLB. Since his debut in 2018, Acuña has earned the Rookie of the Year award, he has been named an All-star, was the NL Stolen Base leader in 2019, and won a Silver Slugger award. He finished his 2019 season with a jaw-dropping 41 homers and 37 steals and is one of the best offensive players in the league right now. A legend in the making without a doubt. 

Miguel Cabrera. Sport: Baseball

However, if we are talking about baseball superstars, we would be remiss not to mention “Miggy” the insane hitter from Maracay, Venezuela. He has been consistently one of the best hitters of the last 10 years in the MLB. His career achievements include 2 AL MVP Awards, 11 All-Star Game selections, 7 Silver Slugger Awards, 4 AL batting titles, 2012 Triple Crown, and being the 2003 World Series champion. The official MLB website describes him as “not just the most accomplished Venezuelan-born position player of all time. He's simply one of the best offensive players of this generation”. A future Hall of Famer for sure. 

Also read: Great Latinamerican Athletes : Colombia edition

Yulimar Rojas. Sport: Athletics

By far the best female athlete in this particular sport in Venezuela, with only 25 years, Rojas already won a Silver Medal in Triple Jump in the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is the best at this particular discipline at the Latam level, and a world contender, winning multiple World Championships and World Indoor Championships. She holds the current triple-jump Indoor record at 15.43 meters. The Caracas born athlete is also a representative of the LGBT community in her country. 

Daniel Dhers. Sport: BMX

One of the biggest representatives of this sport at the Latam level, Dhers is a multiple gold medal winner at the X Games and won the gold medal at the Panamerican Games last year at 34 years old. Born in Caracas, Dhers has a decade and a half of consistent results and is looking for the last crowning achievement of his career: an Olympic Gold Medal at the upcoming Tokio Games. We hope that there is still a chance for him to at least compete for this achievement.