Domingo Tibaduiza

Domingo Tibaduiza Reyes (born November 22, 1950) is known in his native Colombia as an icon and pioneer of Colombian international athletics. A former long-distance elite runner, he represented Colombia at four consecutive Summer Olympics and won the Berlin Marathon.

Early life
Originally from Sogamoso, Colombia, Tibaduiza grew up in Gámeza and was born to the town mayor Raul Antonio Tibaduiza Rodriguez and his wife Rosalba Tibaduiza Reyes, a local shopkeeper. His maternal ancestry is linked to the Colombian aristocratic Reyes Patria family and Juan José Reyes-Patria Escobar. He grew up in a family of seven children, Leonor, María Emma, Miguel, Rosalba, and Ángela.

Until 1962, Tibaduiza played soccer, and focused on the sport because his family did not have the means to buy him a bicycle. He looked up to his countryman Roberto "Pajarito" Buitrago, who was the first Boyacense to win the Vuelta a Colombia that year.

The following year, the family moved together to Bogotá, Colombia. Domingo entered the Nicolás Esguerra school, where he practiced soccer, basketball, and athletic races, encouraged by his professor, Demetrio Roa, who would later be a physical trainer of the Club Los Millonarios. His steps were followed by his siblings Miguel and Rosalba, who also became elite runners.

In 1967, he entered the Santander General School and received the support of established military athletes, such as Sergeant Manuel Cabrera and Corporal Luis Andrade. The following year, he participated in a memorable national youth championship held in Cartago, Valle del Cauca, where he was consecrated as the best national long-distance player in his category.

The following year, Tibaduiza pursued a military career. However, with the demands of the military, he had to leave athletics. He decided to attend the Escuela Militar General Santander and enroll in the physical education course at the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia in Bogotá.

Career
In 1970 he was proclaimed champion of the 5000 and runner-up of the 10000 metres, at the National Games of Ibagué. He also won gold for the 10000 meters, at the Bolivarian Games held in Caracas, Venezuela. From then on, he would begin to build a career that would make him the best track and fielder in Colombia and South America, and one of the greats in Central American and Pan American athletics.

He represented Colombia in the 10,000 meters (1972 in Munich, 1976 in Montreal, 1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles, in which Helmut Bellingrodt, the double Olympic medalist from Barranquilla, participated.), the 5000 metres (1976) and in the men's marathon (1980, 1984). He currently holds the Colombian national record 3000 metres, 10000 metres and 20000 metres.

He won elite road races in his career, with highlights including the IX edition of the Berlin Marathon, when he crossed the finish line in 2:14:46, to beat German runner Eberhardt Weyel (2:14:50) and the British runner Juan Offord (2:20:34), who occupied, in that same order, the other two places on the podium; as well as the 1982 America's Finest City Half Marathon and the Giro al Sas in 1978. He also had the South American marathon record, when he imposed 2:11:21 in New York, in 1983. He is part of that golden generation of Colombian athletics, in which there were also other athletes such as Silvio Salazar, Martín Pabón and Hernán Barreneche. His coach Álvaro Mejía Flórez is also a notable runner from Colombia. For the 2012 London Olympics, he trained athletes in Tunja, Colombia.

In 1979, Tibaduiza organized a unique event in the history of national athletics, the Pastas Doria Festival, which was attended by some of the best athletes in the world, such as David Moorcroft (first runner to go down from 13 minutes in the 5,000 meters), Sebastian Coe, Rodolfo Gómez, José Gómez and Renaldo Nehemiah.

In the eighties, Domingo Tibaduiza dedicated himself to pedestrian races. In the first half of 1981 he won the Auckland Marathon, New Zealand, and was second in teams, in the Marathon Beneva de Montréal, accompanied by Víctor Mora, Rafael Parra and Luis Barbosa. In 1982, he placed second in the San Francisco Marathon. In 1983, at the age of 35, he ran seven marathons including the Manila Marathon, where he placed first; the Stockholm Marathon, where he placed third; the Toronto Marathon, where he placed second; the Eugene Marathon, where he placed first; and the Frankfurt Marathon, where he placed first.

When the contest ended, a group of coaches from Jundeportes Bogotá sent a letter to the director of the entity, in which they "denounced" the business that their colleague Tibaduiza had done.

Education
Tibaduiza attended the University of Nevada, Reno where he graduated in 1974. He is also inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame.

Personal life
Domingo Tibaduiza and his elite distance running younger brother Miguel spent many years in Reno, Nevada, in the United States. Tibaduiza coached at Galena High School, where his team included his family of three sons and a daughter. Among them, the family name dominated distance race results in the area for decades, as the brothers advanced into Masters age divisions and the children excelled. He is also the uncle of Los Angeles–based artist Amadour.