In Colombia, the introduction of roller skating was given thanks to the Jesuit priest Mosser, who began the practice of it in the San Bernardo and La Salle schools, and later in the National Park. This Jesuit priest taught acrobatic skating and hockey.
Consuelo Velasco, one of her students, promoted and disseminated the practice of artistic skating; She started in 1960 with the first roller skating schools, and in 1971 those of artistic skating, becoming a coach, national judge and the first president of the national technical committee of this discipline of the Colombian Skating Federation.
Between 1960 and 1970, Consuelo Velasco joined the hockey groups that carried out programs in different venues in Bogotá and Colombia, to do some artistic skating demonstrations during the mid-game rest period of the games. She had the support of players such as Hugo Urdaneta, Alberto Escobar, Pablo Mora, Jorge Rubiano, Fernando Campuzano, Ricardo Gaitán and Maurice Gaitskell, among others, who also listened carefully to her explanations because some artistic movements were useful for them in hockey.
In 1970, Consuelo Velasco went to Argentina where she witnessed the First South American Championship of the specialty and learned some details of the organization. When she returned, she went to her closest friends and proposed the organization of a national tournament. In 1971, under her direction and coordination, the First National Artistic Skating Championship was held, with the presence of 53 athletes, representing the skating leagues of Bogotá, Cundinamarca and Antioquia. The own creator represented the Special District and was proclaimed senior individual champion, while one of her students, Claudia Rosas, was the revelation in the children’s division. This tournament, however, was not held again in the following 10 years, due to lack of resources.
Supported by leaders such as Víctor Sarmiento, Head of Sports Control of the Cundinamarca Sports Board, and Arnobia de Pedroza, secretary of the Colombian Hockey and Skating Federation, Consuelo Velasco de Baquero found partnerships for the promotion of artistic skating in other cities of the country:, like Susana Jiménez and Luz Mery Tristán, in Cali; Aleida Acosta, in Medellín, and a dancer who belonged to Jaime Ochoa’s ballet, named Gabriel Gómez, in Bogotá, who years later would discover Edwin Guevara, who would eventually become a two-time senior world champion in the free modality.
Those first coaches would be joined by characters such as dance teacher Jairo Suárez, Emilio Castro, María Helena Castañeda, Adriana López, Gloria Castañeda and Consuelo Velandia, the latter one of the most important judges of the modality in Colombia.
This small group, under the leadership of Consuelo Velasco de Baquero, was the seed that would later germinate and spread throughout the country.
Colombia’s participation for the first time in an international tournament was in the South American Artistic Skating Championship held in 1973, in Montevideo, Uruguay, represented by Claudia Rosas, the first children’s national champion, two years earlier. This event brought Consuelo Velasco two satisfactions. While her directed obtained third place, she debuted in the international concert as Artistic Skating Judge, which was another of the important activities of the pioneer of this sport in Colombia, Mrs. Consuelo Velasco de Baquero.
Currently, artistic skating in Colombia has a solid organization headed by the Colombian Skating Federation that develops a national calendar for all categories, which has allowed its growth in different regions of the country. An example is the participation of athletes from 11 skating leagues in the championships of that calendar, as well as the massive participation that happens in international events such as the Pan American Skating Championships.
This development of artistic skating in Colombia has allowed the country to host world championships, being the one from Ibagué, Tolima the sixth organized by the Colombian Skating Federation. The five previous editions have been in Bogotá 1980, being the first world competition in the American continent, in 1986 Bogotá repeated the organization, in 1995 it was held in Girón, Santander, in 1998 again the capital of the Republic received the event and in 2015 the turn was for Cali, Valle del Cauca.
Colombia has, in junior and senior, seven world artistic skating medalists: Brayan Carreño (5 golds – 1 silver – 2 bronzes), Edwin Guevara (2 golds), Viviana Osorio (1 silver – 3 bronzes), Carolina Báez (1 bronze), Jeshua Folleco (1 bronze), Sabrina Mur (1 bronze) and Juliana Giraldo (1 bronze).
