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Rebekah Colberg

Rebekah Colberg was the first Puerto Rican woman to participate in an international sporting competition. Colberg excelled in different sports in an era when women were marginalized in sports because of their gender. Her achievements paved the way for the development of women in sports on the island.

Colberg was born in Cabo Rojo on December 25, 1918. She earned a bachelors degree in sciences and pharmacy at the University of Puerto Rico and graduated from the physical education program of Columbia University in the United States, where she was also a member of the field hockey and lacrosse teams. Finally, she earned an M.D. with a specialty in pediatric psychiatry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she was also part of the championship winning basketball team.

She competed in different sports, both on the island and internationally. From 1932 to 1946, she was the tennis champion in Puerto Rico. Colberg was also part of the Puerto Rican delegation to the IV Central American and Caribbean Games (1938), held in Panama, where she won two gold medals, one in discus and the other in javelin, plus a silver medal in volleyball. In 1946, she won a gold medal in softball at the Central American Games in Mexico.

She was a pediatric psychiatrist for twenty years. In 1952, she was included in the Track and Field Hall of Fame and the Tennis Hall of Fame of Puerto Rico. She died in July, 1985, in the town where she was born. Both the municipal stadium in Cabo Rojo and a multi-sport complex in San Juan were named in her honor.

References

Referencias

Gran Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico

¡Listos!: Puerto Rico en el deporte internacional 1930-2004, Catálogo exhibición Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, 2004.

Portal Profesor en línea