Lina Ríos, a four-time national judo champion, is pursuing a degree in Sports and Recreation at age 32, aiming to shape the next generation of athletes in the Risaralda region of Colombia. Ríos, who transitioned from a career in Industrial Engineering to focus on athletics, currently balances training with coaching at the Risaraldense Judo League in Pereira.
Born in Ulloa, Valle del Cauca, Ríos moved to Pereira with her family at the age of three. She discovered judo in seventh grade at the Cooperative school, captivated by the sport’s visual appeal. “I arrived at the coliseum and visually fell in love with this sport and I stayed there. I started practicing it from the age of 12,” she said.
Ríos’s competitive career includes multiple Pan American championships and a consistent presence among the world’s top ten judokas. She secured gold medals at the National Games in 2012 (two medals), 2015 (one medal), 2019 (two medals), and 2023. In November 2023, Ríos and Daniela Restrepo achieved a historic first for Risaralda, winning gold in the Katame no Kata event at the National Games with a score of 129.83, according to reports from El Pereirano and Noticias Unoa.
Despite facing significant injuries, including a clavicle fracture and a severe ankle fracture that required three months of recovery, Ríos continued to compete at a high level. She won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games following her ankle injury recovery. “When I was little I had a clavicle fracture and the last one I had to go through, perhaps the one that stopped me the longest and was the most tortuous so to speak, was an ankle fracture, I fractured my fibula and destroyed all my ligaments but well, after three months of recovery I participated in the Pan American Games where I won a bronze medal,” Ríos stated.
Ríos was also recognized by the Colombian Judo Federation, receiving a fourth-degree black belt in 2025, alongside fellow Risaralda judokas Glatenferd Escobar, Miguel Ángel Bermúdez, Daniela Restrepo, and Yesid Mazo, and coach Harold Londoño. Escobar and Bermúdez also achieved gold medals in Nage no Kata (138.33) and Katame no Kata (138.16) at the 2023 National Games, contributing to Risaralda’s overall success, which included a total of 69 medals – 17 gold, 22 silver, and 30 bronze – at the games.
Currently, Ríos dedicates her time to coaching at the Risaraldense Judo League, teaching classes seven days a week at the combat coliseum within the Olympic Village. The League is currently hosting a national kata judging course and the first international kata practice camp in Pereira.
