Mauricio Ortega (discus thrower)

Mauricio Alexander Ortega Girón (born 4 August 1994 in Apartadó, Antioquia) is a Colombian discus thrower. His personal best of 70.29 m for the event is the National record. He also holds the South American record.

He was the gold medallist at the 2014 South American Games and a bronze medallist at the 2013 South American Championships in Athletics. He was a two-time champion at the South American U20 Championships.

Career
He competed at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics and placed fourth. He topped the podium at the 2011 South American Junior Championships in Athletics with a national junior record mark of – he was the youngest entrant at the event. At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics he improved his record to in qualifying, but performed less well in the final and finished ninth. He began to throw with the senior-weight discus that year and was the winner of the 2012 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics. He won at the National Games of Colombia with a personal best of.

Ortega established himself at the senior level in 2013. He won his first Colombian senior title in June and took the bronze medal at the 2013 South American Championships in Athletics with a personal best of. The 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships was hosted in Medellín and he came second to Hayden Reed with a junior personal best of. He improved further to a South American junior record and championship record of to win gold at the 2013 South American Junior Championships in Athletics, which was also in Colombia. A Colombian senior record came at the 2013 Bolivarian Games, where his throw of brought him the gold medal in a games record.

He improved the national record to at the 2014 South American Games, breaking the games record to take the gold medal.