Marlene Ahrens, the first female athlete from Chile to win an Olympic medal, is honoured in this Doodle. Ahrens was a great athlete who specialised in javelin throwing on her own and went on to win national titles in tennis. As her legacy as a javelin thrower inspires the current generation, her accomplishments helped boost Chilean pride to new heights.
On July 17, 1933, Ahrens was born in Concépcion, Chile. The Ahrens family relocated to the Aconcagua Valley following the 1939 earthquake in Chile. It was here that Ahrens acquired a deep appreciation for the rural sports of swimming, tree climbing, and horseback riding.
Ahrens went to the beaches with her amateur hockey team around ten years later. Ahrens launched a boulder into the water that cleared the other splashes, following in the footsteps of her friends. Her pals urged her to give javelin throwing a go. Ahrens didn’t just take part in her first amateur competition two weeks later; she also became one of the top javelin throwers in South America right away thanks to her extremely long throws.
Ahrens surpassed all expectations in 1956 as a 23-year-old without any specialised training when she took home gold at the South American Athletics Championship and silver in the Melbourne Olympics. She represented Chile as the only female representative and carried the flag during the inaugural procession.
Ahrens proceeded competing in South American events and won five more gold medals. She competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and carried the flag once again. She then switched to tennis, rising to the top of the local rankings and winning Chile’s mixed doubles championship in 1967.
Ahrens joined the Chilean Olympic Committee in 2000 and held the position for 12 years as vice president. She was an inspiration to modern athletes and rode horses until she was 79 years old.