Ángel Barajas

Ángel Gabriel Barajas Vivas (born 12 August 2006) is a Colombian artistic gymnast. He is the first Colombian gymnast to win an Olympic medal, earning a silver medal on the horizontal bar at the 2024 Olympic Games. Barajas is also the 2022 South American Youth Games champion and the 2023 Junior World all-around silver medalist.

Early life Barajas was born in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, to Angélica María Vivas and Wilson Barajas. He has two older siblings. His father left the family when Barajas was six years old. He attends the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. In 2019 Barajas joined the Colombian Sports Ministry's Athletic Excellence program, which paid him a monthly salary.

2022 In late April, Barajas participated in the South American Youth Games, leading Colombia to team gold. He individually won gold in six of the seven events, missing out only on rings. In July, at the Pan American Championships, he helped Colombia finish fourth as a team. Individually, he won gold on the horizontal bar, silver in the all-around, floor exercise, and vault, and bronze on parallel bars.

2023 In late March, Barajas competed at the second Junior World Championships as the lone male Colombian delegate. On the first day, he qualified for the all-around final in first place and also made it to the finals for floor exercise, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. In the all-around final, he won silver, finishing behind Qin Guohuan of China. In the apparatus finals, Barajas secured gold medals on floor exercise and parallel bars, and a bronze on horizontal bar. With four medals, he left Antalya as the most decorated athlete.

Senior gymnastics career 2024 Barajas became eligible for senior competition in 2024. He made his senior debut at the Cairo World Cup in mid-February, where he qualified for the parallel bars and horizontal bar finals. He won bronze on the horizontal bar, finishing behind Tang Chia-hung and Joe Fraser, and placed eighth on parallel bars. At the conclusion of the World Cup series, Barajas earned an individual Olympic berth for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

At the Olympic Games, Barajas competed in the parallel bars and horizontal bar. During qualifications, he qualified for the horizontal bar final and was the third reserve for the parallel bars final. On the final day of competition for artistic gymnastics, Barajas scored 14.533 on the horizontal bar—the highest score of the day. However, he lost the execution score tie-breaker to Shinnosuke Oka, earning the silver medal. This achievement made Barajas the first Colombian gymnast to win an Olympic medal.

After winning the Olympic silver medal, Barajas was awarded a full scholarship to attend the University of Santander and was also given an apartment in Cúcuta. For his Olympic feat Barajas was named Athlete of the Year by the Colombian Olympic Committee.

2025 Barajas competed at the 2025 Pan American Championships where he finished fifth on horizontal bar and seventh in the all-around, on rings, and on parallel bars. In September he competed at the World Challenge Cups in Paris and Szombathely. At the former he won silver on parallel bars behind Joe Fraser and placed fifth on horizontal bar and at the latter he won silver on horizontal bar behind Milad Karimi. Barajas ended the season competing at the 2025 World Championships where he qualified to the all-around and parallel bars finals. He placed sixth in the all-around, earning Colombia's best all-around placement at a World Championships, beating Jossimar Calvo's tenth-place finish in 2014, and placed fourth on parallel bars.

2026 Barajas began the year competing at the 2026 Cottbus World Cup where he won silver on horizontal bar behind Shohei Kawakami. At the Baku World Cup, Barajas won his first World Cup gold, doing so on the parallel bars. Additionally he won bronze on horizontal bar. At the Antalya World Cup, Barajas won a pair of silver medals on the parallel bars and horizontal bar. Barajas ended the World Cup series winning gold on parallel bars and bronze on horizontal bar in Osijek. As a result, he was the overall series winner on the parallel bars.

At the 2026 Pan American Championships, Barajas helped Colombia win silver behind Canada. Individually Barajas qualified to the all-around final in first place and additionally qualified to all apparatus event finals besides vault. During the all-around final Barajas was leading going into the final rotation but fell on horizontal bar and ended up winning silver behind teammate Camilo Vera. During event finals Barajas won silver on floor exercise behind Jorge Vega, bronze on pommel horse behind Patrick Hoopes and Jordan Carroll, and ended the competition winning gold on horizontal bar after earning a score 15.233, over one point ahead of second-place finisher Diogo Soares. Additionally he placed eighth on rings and sixth on parallel bars. Barajas next competed at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games where he helped Colombia win team gold. Individually he won gold in the all-around ahead of teammate Vera, silver on rings behind Francisco Vélez of Puerto Rico, and gold on parallel bars and horizontal bar ahead of teammate Yan Zabala on both.

Competitive history +Competitive history of Ángel Barajas at the junior levelYearEvent 2018 Colombian Championships 2019 Colombian Championships (senior) 6 4 2021 Pan American Championships South American Championships 2022 South American Youth Games 4 Pan American Championships 4 2023 Junior World Championships

+Competitive history of Ángel Barajas at the senior levelYearEvent 2024 Cairo World Cup 8 Cottbus World Cup 4 Baku World Cup Doha World Cup 4 Olympic Games 14 2025 Pan American Championships 5 7 7 7 5 Paris World Challenge Cup 5 Szombathely World Challenge Cup 6 7 World Championships 6 4 2026 Cottbus World Cup Baku World Cup Antalya World Cup Osijek World Cup Pan American Championships 8 6 Central American and Caribbean Games