Seven swimmers from Latin America and the Caribbean recently secured their spot to compete at the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics.
From Paraguay, Ben Hockin and Karen Riveros will swim in Rio. Hockin is a six-time national record holder who specializes in sprint freestyle and butterfly. This will be his third Olympics, after he competed in the 100 and 200 free as well as the 100 fly at the 2012 Games. Riveros, meanwhile, is Paraguayan record holder in the 50 free, 100 free, and 50 fly, and she’ll be competing at her second Olympics this summer.
SwimSwam contributor Lani Cabrera will join Alex Sobers in Rio to represent the country of Barbados. Cabrera, who swims collegiately with Florida Gulf Coast, is a distance freestyler and multi-event national record holder. Sobers, meanwhile, excels at sprint free.
Two swimmers from Aruba were also confirmed for Rio: Mikel Schreuders and Ally Ponson. A rising sophomore with the University of Missouri, Schreuders is a sprint freestyler– as is Ponson. Both of them hold national records in the 50 and 100 free, with Schreuders owning the men’s marks and Ponson the women’s.
Also getting the nod for Rio was Jordan Augier of St. Lucia. He was recently a part of the University of Tampa’s 200 free relay at Division II Nationals that broke the D2 record.
Dylan Carter also received his invite in the last couple days. He may hold dual nationality for the US and Trinidad and Tobago, but he swims under the T&T flag.
Felipe Tapia of Chile’s participation was confirmed two days ago, he’ll be joining Kristel Kobrich.
Jordan Augiur of St. Lucia too