Sara Vargas Blanco

Started: She began swimming at age four. She started training seriously in 2018 in Bogota, Colombia. (elespectador.com, 01 Sep 2019; eltiempo.com, 31 Aug 2019) Reason: She wanted to follow into the footsteps of her older sister Ana Gabriela, who competed in swimming. She was later discovered by coach Stevens Ruiz. "Sport is my life, my career." (elespectador.com, 01 Sep 2019; eltiempo.com, 31 Aug 2019) Ambition: To win a medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (elespectador.com, 28 Apr 2022) Milestones: At age 12 years and 282 days she was the youngest athlete to win a medal at the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru. She claimed silver in the S6 400m freestyle, before going on to also win four gold medals at the Games. The silver medal also made her the youngest Colombian athlete to have won a Parapan American Games medal. (SportsDeskOnline, 09 Oct 2020; paralympic.org, 03 Oct 2019) Awards: She was named 2023 Female Para Athlete of the Year by the Bogota District Institute of Recreation and Sports in Colombia. (eltiempo.com, 18 Dec 2023) She was Colombia's flag bearer at the 2023 Youth Parapan American Games in Bogota, Colombia. (cpc.org.co, 02 Jun 2023) She was named 2022 Para Athlete of the Year in Bogota, Colombia, by the Colombian Association of Sports Journalists [ACORD]. (olimpicocol.co, 13 Dec 2022) She won the Top Junior Female Athlete award at the 2022 World Series Awards in Mexico. (World Para Swimming Facebook page, 30 Nov 2022) She was voted Best Female Athlete of the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru, in a public poll organised by the Americas Paralympic Committee. (paralympic.org, 03 Oct 2019)