After losing his sight at the age of 12, Cristian Valenzuela overcame all adversity to become a professional athlete and Paralympic champion in London 2012, where he won the first gold medal for Chile.
Professional athlete category T-11 (total blindness), Cristian Valenzuela is founder and director of the fortaleza foundation. He is a speaker on motivation, leadership, diversity and inclusion, and self-improvement with 10 years of experience. He lost his sight at the age of 12 (due to congenital glaucoma) and, after falling into depression because of it, he decided to reorient his life and look for ways of expression that would allow him to feel free again.
That is how he got to know sport, which led him to participate in all the Paralympic Games from Beijing 2008 to Tokyo 2020. Cristian Valenzuela was Paralympic champion in London 2012, winning the first gold medal for Chile. Likewise, he achieved the world championship in Marathon in the 2011 Paralympic World Championship in Christchurch, New Zealand; and, two years later, in Lyon, France.
In 2014, Cristian Valenzuela was double South American champion in 1,500 and 5,000 meters in Santiago, Chile. He obtained the silver medal in 5,000m in Toronto, Canada at the ParaPanamerican Games 2015; the same year he was crowned World Champion in 5,000m in Doha, Qatar. Likewise, he earned the world silver medal in 5,000m at the 2017 Paralympic World Championship in London, United Kingdom. In addition, he was a finalist in 1,500m and 5,000m at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020, Japan.
Similarly, Cristian Valenzuela was awarded the 2012 National Sports Award by the Government of Chile. Among his honors are the recognition of "Best of the best 2012" (CPD), "Best of the best Paralympic" (CPD), and "Leader 2012" (La Tercera Newspaper). He was the "Young influential 2017" by Diario Financiero.
