Irving Saladino

Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda is a Panamanian former long jumper, born on January 23, 1983, in Colón, Panama. The son of an electrical worker and a homemaker, he was discovered by the coach Wilfre Esquina at age fifteen and trained at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento in Panama City before relocating to São Paulo, Brazil, in 2003 to work with the Cuban-Brazilian coach Nélio Alfano Moura, who had previously developed the world record holder Maurren Maggi.

Saladino broke through internationally at the 2006 IAAF World Cup in Athens, where he won gold, and at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka on August 31 of that year, jumping 8.57 meters to take Panama's first world athletics title. On May 24, 2008, at the Hengelo Grand Prix in the Netherlands, he reached 8.73 meters, a South American record that still stood at the time of his retirement.

At the Beijing Olympics on August 18, 2008, he leapt 8.34 meters in his final attempt to win the gold medal in the long jump, becoming the first Panamanian to win an Olympic gold in any sport. The Panamanian government declared the day a national holiday, and President Martín Torrijos welcomed him home with a public ceremony at Tocumen International Airport.

Recurring Achilles tendon and knee injuries limited his subsequent competition, and he failed to advance past qualifying at the 2012 London Olympics. He retired from international athletics in 2017 and has since worked in coaching and youth sport development in Colón.

The name Irving is a Scottish surname turned given name, from the Old Brittonic place name meaning "green water" or "fresh river." He has carried it as the man who put Panama on the Olympic medal map.