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Domingo ‘Tiba’ Tibaduiza is an iconic Colombian Distance runner who represented his country at four consecutive Olympics – the 1972 Munich, 1976 Montreal, 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Domingo won the 1982 Berlin Marathon, 1983 Manila Marathon, finished third at the 1984 Boston Marathon, and ninth at the 1981 Fukuoka Marathon when it was the unofficial World Championship. He finished eighth at the 1983 New York City Marathon in his personal best time of 2:11:21. At the 1975 Pan American Games, Tiba won a Gold Medal at 5,000 meters and Bronze Medal at 10,000 meters. At the 1983 Pan American Games, he won a Silver Medal at 10,000 meters and Bronze Medal at 5,000 meters. Domingo won three Gold Medals at the South American Games (5,000m – 1975, 1977 and 10,000m – 1977) and added three Silver Medals (10,000m – 1975, 1979 and 5,000m - 1979). He finished in the top five at the San Silvestre (Brazil) Midnight New Year’s Race six times including winning to ring in 1978 in style. Tiba set numerous Colombian National Records and the 3,000 meters, 10,000 meters and 20k records still stand over four decades later. He competed collegiately in the USA for Nevada-Reno and won the Mount Sac Relays 6-mile or 10,000 meters three times. At the 1974 NCAA Championships, Domingo earned the 6-mile Bronze Medal and was seventh in the 3-mile. In 1975 at NCAAs, he won the 6-mile Silver Medal and 3-mile Bronze Medal. His personal best times include: 1,500m – 3:44; 1,500m steeplechase – 4:22; mile –4:04; 3,000 meters – 7:50.0; 3,000m steeplechase – 9:02; 2-mile – 8:34.0; 5,000m – 13:29.67; 10,000m – 27:53.02; 15k – 43:23.6; 20k – 1:00:26; Half-marathon – 1:03:46 and Marathon - 2:11:21. Tiba’s coaching included at Nevada-Reno and Galena High School. He became a U.S. citizen in 1994. Nevada-Reno honored him with induction into its Athletic Hall of Fame class in 1985 and named him to the ‘Legends of the Pack’ in 2022 as one of the top five cross country athletes in program history. He splits his time between Reno, Nevada and Bogota, Colombia with his wife, Angela, of forty-nine years. Domingo was very kind to spend two hours and 45 minutes on the telephone for this interview in the summer of 2025.
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THE BIG PICTURE You were a four-time Olympian, representing Colombia in the 10,000 meters in 1972 in Munich, 1976 in Montreal, 1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles. Plus you also competed in the Olympic 5,000 meters in 1976 and the marathon in 1980 and 1984. When you look back forty-one years after your final Olympic appearance, what does it mean to represent your country in the Olympics four times?
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Being in the Olympics means everything to me. When I was growing up in Colombia, sports weren’t a big deal. But we would hear the big events on the radio and, by the time I was about eight years old, I knew what I wanted to do. That was crazy. My dad was a tailor who would work twelve, sixteen or even twenty hours a day doing his job. He always had the radio on and, most of the time, it was for sports. Soccer was popular and so was cycling. Every now and then there were broadcasts of Olympic sports, and that got into my mind. I knew that I wanted to be an athlete. It took me a few years to decide which sport. It was between soccer and cycling because those were the most popular sports. By the time we moved from our small town to the capital city of Bogota, cycling was too expensive for me. I was good at soccer, and I was very agile, but soccer required someone to support me, take me to a club and to pay fees, and I couldn’t afford that. So, my next sport to try was running and I started running. I have run as long as I could remember. My dad’s tailor shop was on one side of the town and my mom had a small grocery store on the other side of town. There was about eight hundred meters between them, and I would run back and forth eight or ten times a day. I never walked. I wanted to run. So, I ran all my life. I found something to believe in, and it was running, even if it meant sacrificing everything. So, when it came to the Olympics, it was an obsession, and I wanted to be in the Olympics no matter what.
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What was it like when you qualified for your first Olympics in 1972 in Munich? Though you placed 12th in your 10,000-meter heat in 29:24 and did not advance, how exciting was it to be there and to have the Olympic experience for the first time?
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It was like being a little boy in a candy store. I could not believe it. I had to pinch myself every so often to believe that I was there. It was great even though there was the tragedy with the hostages that ruined part of the Games. Being there was an unbelievable accomplishment for me. I didn’t think I would replicate it. I had made it to the Olympics, and I felt that now I could live happily for the rest of my life. I had accomplished something I had dreamed about since I was a boy, and it was great. I was naïve and my training hadn’t been going well at the time. I was a one-man team. I didn’t have a coach and didn’t have support from officials from my country. My mother was a great support, but that was it. I had overtrained and suffered some injuries before the Olympics but being an Olympian meant everything to me. I ran the 10,000 meters and made some mistakes. I ran the semifinals in the 10,000 meters and the schedule got crazy since every country had the right back then to have one athlete in every event. I was in the third heat. I ran from the Olympic Village to the stadium and my race was supposed to be at a certain time. But the first two heats had runners who were running for over forty minutes for 10,000 meters and it delayed the program for almost three hours. I kept warming up for the entire three hours. I’m not kidding because they kept saying, ‘Another twenty minutes.’ Then twenty minutes later, ‘Another twenty minutes.’ So, I got to the race, and I was already tired. But I wanted to run a decent race. I ran fast the first 5,000 meters and beat my PR on the way to the 10,000 meters. It started hitting me about sixteen or seventeen or eighteen laps. I finished the race, but I didn’t remember the last few laps. I passed out, they took me to the infirmary. And I got better. It was about 11:00 in the evening and I didn’t want my Olympics to end that way. So, I started running back to the Olympic Village. It took me another hour and a half to get to the Village. I told myself that, if I ever got back to the Olympics, I would do better and I made a vow that I would be ready for Montreal.
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In 1976 you qualified for your second Olympics in Montreal where you finished 10th in your 10,000-meter heat in 29:28.17 and eighth in your 5,000 heat in 13:49.49 without advancing to the final in either event. What did you learn from your Munich Olympic experience, and what did you do for the next four years that helped you in Montreal?
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After the Munich Olympics, I met the coach from the University of Nevada-Reno. He said he could help me attend his college if I wanted to come to the United States, so I said, ‘Sure.’ After the Munich Olympics, I went to the Embassy, I took my exam to indicate I understood the English language at a certain level and somehow I passed. My English was basic, but I passed and got a student visa. From 1972 to 1976, from Olympics to Olympics, I was a running machine. Every minute of the day I thought, ‘The Olympics. The Olympics. The Olympics.’ I knew I needed to improve my training. I read everything I could and talked to other runners to learn more. My coach, Jack Cook, was more of a sprint coach. For those four years, I learned how to coach myself, eat better food and to do everything I could to become a better runner. About six weeks before my second Olympic Games in Montreal, I was running very well. I could run with anybody in the world, and I am not exaggerating. I wanted my training to be so perfect that I made some mistakes. The Colombian Federation didn’t help me much, but they tried. They sent me a letter telling me that there was an offer from the Olympic Committee of the Soviet Union for me to train with their team for two months and go to a high-altitude training camp in Siberia. They would also provide me with coaching. I thought that this was what I needed. I would have eight weeks to polish up, do what the best runners in the world did, and be ready to race in two Olympic finals in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters. But, before I was to go to the Soviet Union, the Colombian Federation wanted me to run a half marathon that was held close to my hometown. It became a fiasco. At the time, the furthest I had competed was in the 10,000 meters. I developed a problem with my foot in that race, and it got worse when I was in the Soviet Union. They sent me to Kyiv for treatment. I stayed there and trained on my own. I did a lot of running on synthetic tracks which I wasn’t used to. I developed a problem with my left foot and the second metatarsal collapsed. It became torture to run. The doctors said there was nothing they could do except surgery. I wasn’t getting coaching, and nothing that was promised was happening, so I took a flight from Moscow to Helsinki. I ran some races even though my foot was hurting. I even ran a race against Lasse Viren. There was a dual meet between Finland and Sweden in Stockholm with three runners from each country. I was let in the race as an invited guest. The Swedish runners were not that good. The people in the stands were cheering for me because of the animosity between Sweden and Finland. It came down to the last lap between Lasse Viren, Pekka Paivarinta and me – the three of us. I was a kicker and with eighty yards to go Viren came by me. When he won the Olympics in both races, people were saying, ‘Not that long ago, he only beat Tibaduiza by one tenth of a second.’ His improvement was very special. My foot got worse when I got to the Olympics. I could hardly walk. The doctors again said there was nothing they could do. They told me to forget about the Games and to have surgery. Now I had a bone fracture. Since I was already in Montreal, I had to run. Who gives up on the Olympics when you are already there? So, I managed to run the 10,000 meters in twenty-nine something. The second race, the 5,000 meters, I ran a little bit better. But it was a kicker’s race and that day I couldn’t kick. I was slow and I was limping
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Four years later, in 1980 at the Moscow Olympics you didn’t finish the 10,000 meters, but came in 17th place in the marathon with a time of 2:17:06. Was that your best Olympic experience so far since you finished in the top twenty of the marathon?
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After 1976, I decided that sport may be over for me. I kept running and finished my school studies. I got my degree in Physical Education and went back to Colombia in December of 1976. I started working as a coach and as a teacher. I was also teaching English. So, I had three jobs and was trying to keep on running. That went on those four years from 1976 to 1980. I wanted to get ready for the 1980 Olympics because I thought it would be my last Olympics, so I ran up to three times each day and a total of fifteen or more miles. Then there was the U.S. Olympic boycott. Colombia followed the lead of the United States and decided to boycott. I thought it was my best chance to do well in the Olympics. By that time, I was extremely popular in Colombia. I was one of the most well-known athletes in Colombia. I went to the press and told them, ‘No, I am not going to boycott. The government doesn’t pay me to run. I run because this is what I want to do. I am going to go to the Olympics.’ So, the Colombian Olympic Committee told me I could go to Moscow, but it would be on my own and they would not help me in any way, shape, or form. I bought my ticket and paid for my way to the 1980 Olympics. I went about two weeks before the Olympics to Germany. There was a training group in Darmstadt near Frankfurt. They took pity on me, found me a little room, and helped me. One day I was going to do twenty-five quarters on the track. That day it rained very hard on the cinder track, so nobody was allowed to run there. Instead, I went to a forest trail to do my quarters, it was very slippery, and I pulled a muscle. That hurt my Olympics. I tried to run the 10,000 meters but couldn’t finish. Before the marathon, they injected me with cortisone and my right leg was asleep for half of the marathon. Then I started feeling the problem and it hurt my finish. So, Moscow was another bad experience. I would go from one bad Olympic experience to an even worse experience.
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At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics you had the opposite of Moscow occur as you finished eleventh in your 10,000-meter heat in 29:07.19 but had a marathon DNF. Did you know that this was definitely your final Olympics and were you happy to be there even though it didn’t go as well as you had hoped?
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After 1980, I thought I was done running in the Olympics and never thought I would compete again in an Olympics. After the Olympics in Moscow, I came back to the United States and took about six months to let me legs recover and heal. I talked to Dr. Cook at the University of Nevada-Reno, and he took me on as his assistant and I started coaching. They could not pay me because I didn’t have a work permit, but they let me take any number of credits at the University. I stayed there from 1981 to 1984. This was when there was a running boom, and my running became a means to an end since there were payments. I had my wife and two kids and needed to make a living, so I would run races and make two hundred dollars here and three hundred dollars there. I was overracing and the Olympics were not in my mind. The last Olympic experience came as a surprise. I was not expecting to be there. I had settled for running races for money at that time. Then the Colombian Athletic Federation contacted me and informed me they had entered me in the 1984 Olympic marathon and 10,000 meters. Since I was living in Reno, it was easy to get to the Olympics in Los Angeles. I hadn’t been training well and wasn’t feeling well and was tired of all the racing. I went to the Olympics because I had to. The 10,000 meters was very tough, but I did finish my heat. The marathon was hard because it was hot and humid. I became totally dehydrated. After twenty miles or so, I pulled out of the race because I knew that I couldn’t finish. It was not a good experience. I knew it wasn’t going to be good; it was what I expected, and it just happened.
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What are your main thoughts of the 1982 Berlin Marathon, as you won a close race in 2:14:46 to beat German runner Eberhardt Weyel who ran 2:14:50?
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When I won in Berlin, I had raced the Nike Marathon two weeks before and ran 2:13:45. I went to Berlin because the race organizer called me three days before the race. I told them I had just run the Nike Marathon, but they were okay with that. They gave me a little bit of appearance money, and I had nothing to lose. I got to Berlin the day before the marathon. I started the race, and I had the rhythm. I came to the last three miles with the Europeans and one American. I kicked the last mile and won. I don’t know how because my legs were still sore from the Nike Marathon. I had the rhythm, the motion was there, and I was able to run. It was crazy, but I was able to win.
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You raced your all-time personal best marathon at the 1983 NYC Marathon as you finished eighth in 2:11:21. That was such a strong and deep field as, after Rod Dixon and Geoff Smith up front, there were only 55 seconds from Ron Tabb in third place at 2:10:46 and David Gordon in 11th place at 2:11:41. What was that race like with so many great runners around you?
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First, that marathon was a back-to-back marathon as, the previous week I had run the Toronto Marathon. Benji Durden was able to outkick me toward the end of that race (note – Benji ran 2:15:16 and Domingo ran 2:15:48). Also, the day before the Toronto Marathon, I ran a 15k race in El Paso Texas. After the Toronto Marathon, I went back to Reno. By the way, I was running for the South Florida Track Club in those days. I got a call from the leader of the SFTC, and they wanted me to run the New York City Marathon so we could aim to win the team race. I told him, ‘But I just ran the Toronto Marathon.’ He said, ‘It doesn’t matter. Just come and run.’ I said, ‘Okay, but I don’t know how I will do.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry. Just come and be part of the team.’ So, I ran those three races in eight days. I went into the New York City Marathon with no expectations whatsoever. The field was superb – as good a field as you could imagine. I went out with the leaders. I decided to stay with the front pack until I could no longer. We went by the half marathon in sixty-three minutes. It was fast, but I wasn’t feeling too bad. I was thinking, ‘Wow! I’m feeling okay. I’m going to stay here.’ By the time I got to twenty miles, I was tired. I thought, ‘I have run this hard for twenty miles. I’m going to keep on going until I drop.’ I kept going and that was the most grueling experience. When I got into Central Park, I was depleted. I had to kick with the fantastic Rudy Chapa, and he outkicked me in the last two hundred meters as I was driving to the finish. I finished on my knees. But 2:11:21 was my best time and I was incredibly happy.
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When we go forward to the 1984 Boston Marathon, Geoff Smith won in 2:10:34, followed by Gerald Vanesse in 2:14:49, you in 2:15:40 and Juan Zetina of Mexico in 2:15:41. What can you relate about that race as you only made the podium by one second?
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I went out with Geoff Smith. I was the only one who ran with Geoff. When we got to the hills, he was extraordinarily strong. I knew that, if I tried to keep up with him, I would not finish. So, I paced myself from then on. After about two or three miles, Gerald Vanesse, the young runner from Massachusetts, went by me. I stayed in third place all the way to the finish. Juan Zetina was coming from behind and I was dead. I held him off somehow by a couple steps. It was a hard race because it was very cold. I was getting hypothermia for the last few miles. It was a great experience to be on the podium. But the marathon was never a priority for me. I was born to run. The Olympics and running a good 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters were my priority. The marathon came along as an addition and a way for me to say goodbye to my obsession with running.
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Speaking of the Boston Marathon, how did you end up running your first Boston Marathon in 1972 as you placed 11th in 2:21:58 when you were only twenty-one years old?
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I wasn’t training for the marathon and didn’t have any plans to run one then. But the Colombian officials sent a group of five guys to the United States to train for the Munich Olympics. My countryman, Alvaro Mejia, had won the Boston Marathon in 1971 He had this idea that if we all trained together, we could do something special in the Olympics in Munich. He got a company to sponsor the five guys. We went to San Mateo, California. Alvaro’s wife was an Olympic swimmer, and she made the necessary connections. We rented a house and stayed there for a few weeks. What happened was that the money provided by the sponsoring company started to run out. Alvaro was acting as our coach. He said that two of the five runners had to go back to Colombia, and I should because I was the youngest of the five. I told him that there had to be a way for us to decide on the track because I was better than the other three guys. At the time, I was also beating Alvaro in 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. He said, ‘There is one way we can keep you here.’ I said, ‘Tell me what that is and I will do it.’ He then said, ‘The top three in the Boston Marathon will go to the Olympics and the other three will go back to Colombia.’ I said, ‘Get me in the marathon.’ That was about ten days before the Boston Marathon. I wasn’t training for the marathon, but I knew I could do it and, if that were what it took, I would run. So, at the 1972 Boston Marathon, Victor Mora finished second, Alvaro Mejia was eighth, and I came in eleventh. I went out with the Finnish runner who won because I was the only one of the Colombian runners naïve enough to do so. We went out very hard and, by the time I got to 30k, I started hurting. But, in my mind I knew one thing – I had to finish and be one of the top three Colombians because I wanted to go to the Olympics in Munich whatever it takes. It was unexpected, unplanned, and it just happened.
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After your competitive days, you coached at Galena High School and had the opportunity to coach your sons and daughter. Raul was on the 2002 state champion cross country and Bryan was two-time Nevada state cross country champion as the team won his junior year and state 3200-meter champion his sophomore year. Tatyana blossomed early into a great runner. How exciting was it to coach teenagers and to coach your own children to win state championships?
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I wanted to give my kids everything that I didn’t have. I coached first at the University of Nevada-Reno until 1986. Then, due to Title IX, the track and cross-country programs were cut at UNR for men. Nevada became the only state in the union without track and cross-country programs for college men. So, I decided to start coaching high school. I have three sons and a daughter. When my oldest son was in middle school, he started running cross-country. I hadn’t encouraged my kids to run but I went to the meets. But video games were getting so popular that, when I got home from work, my kids were sitting and playing video games. I didn’t want them to become coach potatoes. My oldest son was big and strong, so I bought him a great bicycle. I started riding with him in the mountains of Reno. Then one day he had an accident, and I thought, ‘Oh no, my wife is going to kill me.’ He was saved by very little and that was the end of his cycling. So, I began to get my kids started running. We found out that the best runner wasn’t one of my sons. It was my daughter, Tatyana. She was named Tatyana because in the 1972 Olympics I saw Tatyana Kazankina win the 1,500 meters. I had thought back then that, if I ever had a girl, her name would be Tatyana, and it happened. All of the kids started running in middle school and Tatyana was a phenomenon of a runner. She was everything I ever dreamed of. She was AAU National Champion in the 12-14 age division. She won in cross country and still has some of the best times on the track in the Pacific Association. She was an amazing athlete. I thought she was going to do what I hadn’t done and win a medal in the Olympics. She was undefeated when she was in the early years of high school, but then she started growing and, by the time she was about sixteen, she said, ‘Dad, this is what you want, not what I want. I want to do other things.’ So, we had to compromise. I told her, ‘Run through high school and, if you don’t want to afterward, I will never mention it again.’ By the time that happened, she was getting letters for scholarships from universities such as Stanford. But, in her last two years of high school, she didn’t run as fast as she had before. She still got scholarship offers, but didn’t take them because she wanted to pursue something else. She didn’t run after high school. That was a letdown for me. My three boys were all athletic, but they weren’t at Tatyana’s level. My youngest was the state champion in the 3,200 meters as a sophomore.
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When you ran and when you coached yourself, you motivated yourself. What was it like with athletes of ability and motivation and focus who weren’t all like you wanting to get out there and do your best?
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That was quite a challenge. When I started coaching in high school, I went to a school that did not have the sports of track or cross-country. I was teaching. I went to the athletic director and asked if I could try to get some students out to run. It wasn’t easy, but I got one student and then a couple more. It wasn’t easy, but I got one student and then a couple more. Somehow, I was able to pass on my love of the sport to the athletes. I was getting frustrated because I wasn’t seeing a lot of improvement. So, I took the kids to meets and spent extra time coaching them on weekends and I was able to motivate them. The number of guys grew from three to four to five and I had a cross-country team. When they started forming a social group, that was the key. With those five guys in my first year, we finished third in the regional championships. The next few years I started getting ten and then fifteen guys. We didn’t have soccer then but, when soccer became more popular, it was a problem for track and cross-country as many guys who would have gone out for both running sports were now playing soccer. It was a mixed experience, but a happy one. Then I went to another school that had a little better running program. I managed by the end of my years as a high school coach to have one of the top five cross country teams in this part of the country. We could have gone to the Nike cross-country nationals a few times when we were second or third as a team in the Regionals, but the Nike National organizers didn’t pick us. Still, we managed to put together some particularly good teams.
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SPORTS AS A YOUTH AND YOUNG MAN IN COLOMBIA Let’s discuss more details of your childhood. You mentioned that soccer and cycling were important for you, though you started running since it was inexpensive. You grew up in a family of seven children, with siblings Leonor, María Emma, Miguel, Rosalba, and Ángela. Where were you in the birth order and were you a leader in their family?
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I am the second oldest. Only one sister was older than me. I was like a second father to my younger brothers and sisters. My father was a good man, but he had a problem that he was an alcoholic. We couldn’t depend on him, so my mother looked after the family. Since I was the oldest man in the family after my father, the tradition was that I would look after the younger family members. I did as much as I could. I brought my younger brother, Miguel, to the United States to study and one of my sisters also came here. In my younger days, we were in a small town of five thousand people at about ten thousand feet of altitude. We had a little farm that was about three miles from the center of the town. We had a couple cows and some horses and other animals. I would go to school from eight o’clock until noon. Then I was back at school from two o’clock until five o’clock. Every day after school my mother would want me to check and see if the horses and cows had enough water and food. I wanted to play soccer, so I would run as fast as I could to the farm, take care of the animals, and then play soccer for two hours in the evening. That was my routine for years and years. I could not afford a bike.
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I have read that you entered the Nicolás Esguerra school, where you practiced soccer, basketball, and athletic races, and that you were encouraged by your professor, Demetrio Roa, to run. What was his influence on you?
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In the beginning he wasn’t a good influence because I was very hyperactive. I met him when we left our small town and moved into a big city. I went to a public high school and met a teacher who was also a coach of a soccer club. We never got along because I was so hyper. I was always talking and couldn’t stand still in line for even a second. The teacher was Demetrio Roa, and he didn’t like me for the first three years of eighth, ninth and tenth grade. I never even passed the Physical Education class. After those three years, he decided there would be a running event from the school to where they were building a new school. I decided to run it, and I won the race by about two-and-a-half minutes. Demetrio Roa asked me, ‘What did you do? Did you take a short cut?’ I told him that there were two guys alongside me on bicycles so there was no way I could cut the course. ‘I don’t believe you. You were two minutes faster than anyone else,’ he said. After that, he said he wanted me to run in some races. So, I ran races against other schools that were 5k, 7k or other long distances and I won every race. That finally convinced my teacher that I was a runner. He called me to his office one day and said ‘Domingo, I know we haven’t had a good relationship for three years. Let’s work on that. If you want, I can be your worst enemy or your best friend.’ For the next two years, I was running well and running saved me because I had always been in trouble. I was fighting, I was aggressive, and I was too hyper. They called me the creator of chaos. Running gave me a chance as I found my niche, and I went for it with everything I had. If I had to run at midnight or get up at four in the morning, I would so I could get in my running. I would skip lunch to run.
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Can you tell us about how in 1967 you entered the Escuela Militar General Santander School and received the support of established military athletes, such as Sergeant Manuel Cabrera and Corporal Luis Andrade?
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That was about the same time when I was finishing high school. My family had economic problems with seven people in the house. I left home so there was one less person in my house for my mother to sustain and to look after. I went to the police and military academy for two years and that was good. I had my meals every day and rigid military discipline. I had run for the military during those years and won the under eighteen championships. I was hoping they would keep me in Bogota so I could train. But they said there were no exceptions, and I had to go to that jungle town. I would have been a police official, but they were going to send me to the jungle. So, that was when I was done with my military career.
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Was that about the time in 1970 when you were Gold Medalist in the 5,000 meters and Silver Medalist in the 10,000 meters, at the National Games of Ibagué and won the Gold Medal for the 10,000 meters, at the Bolivarian Games held in Caracas, Venezuela?
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Yes, that is the time period. But my first international title was in Venezuela in the steeplechase. It was a special event to me because it taught me mental toughness. I didn’t train much for it, so I wasn’t that good at it because I was training for the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. Because the competition was so strong in those events, my first national championship was in the steeplechase. My problem was that I sprinted between hurdles and was horrible at the water jump. But that mental toughness was second to none. After running the steeplechase, running a 5k is a piece of cake. Running a 10k is nothing compared to the steeple. I would always finish exhausted after a steeplechase and a couple times I even passed out.
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I couldn’t find any information regarding you racing the steeplechase. When was that, what was your fastest time and what did you run for 1,500 meters?
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When I was running in the Colombian under eighteen championships, I ran a 4:22 to win the 1,500-meter steeplechase. In the under eighteen 1,500 meters, I won in 4:02. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, my best time was 9:02. I wasn’t fast, but it made me a better athlete. All the times in Colombia didn’t mean much because we were running at noon in temperatures of around 36 degrees Celsuis (note – about 97 degrees Fahrenheit) and high humidity. The times didn’t matter, but I won. Before the Munich Olympics, I decided not to run the steeplechase anymore since I am not tall and it made it hard to navigate the water pit.
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COLLEGIATE RUNNING AT UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA – RENO What was it like for you when you first came to Nevada-Reno to run for Coach Cook?
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When I first came to the U.S., I thought I was going to run the 800 meters and 1,500 meters and to get fast. But Dr. Cook had a plan. In 1972, when he recruited me, he told me in track that I would run three events in the dual meets and invitationals so I could get three wins for him and the team and that would give the team thirty points in each meet. His plan was for me to run the 3-mile, steeplechase, and 6-mile. I thought, ‘Oh my God. He is going to kill me.’ The meets were two-day meets, and he expected me to run those three races. But I came to the USA to learn how to be a faster runner. The next day I went to him and said, ‘Coach, I am not going to challenge your ideas, but I am here because I want to become a fast runner. If I run those three races, I will probably win, but what I need is to run the 800-meters and mile. If you want me to get thirty points. Let me choose my events. I will run the mile, the 3-mile and two relays – the four by 800-meters and distance medley 1,200-meters.’ That is what we agreed, and I scored for him at least thirty points ninety-nine percent of the time. I respected and even loved Dr. Cook because he gave me that chance. Another coach might have said, ‘Forget it.’ So, I got to run all those relays which made me a better runner. That was a great experience. By doing that, I ran 3:44 for the 1,500 meters on a windy day which was a Colombian Record. I even beat Paul Cummings when he was at his best.
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I’m sure it took a while to get used to a new environment and coach, but at the 1974 NCAA Championships in Texas, you placed seventh in the 3-mile in 14:12.60 and third in the 6-mile in 28:28.23 behind two very strong runners, John Ngeno in 28:14.46 and Ted Casteneda in 28:18.85. How exciting was it to earn the Bronze Medal in the 6-mile and to be All-American in the 3-mile?
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The schedule was that we ran the preliminary race in the 3-mile one day, the 6-mile the second day and the 3-mile final the third day. I got experience that year and knew that the next year I would do the double again and be more ready.
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That fall at the 1974 NCAA Cross Championships you finished in 41st place in 30:51.23. There were so many great runners that you were only 30 seconds behind 15th place and 20 seconds ahead of 63rd place as forty-eight athletes finished in fifty seconds. Was that unbelievable to have so many great athletes who raced 1,500 meters, the steeplechase, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters? Could that be the deepest race in which you ever competed?
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When I came to the United States, I didn’t even know about cross country. I knew about road races. I knew about track and field. But cross country was totally new to me. I was good at it because I am light, I had run the steeplechase, and I liked running hills. I would have easily been in the top three, but this is what happened. At that time, I was one of the top five runners in the NCAA. I thought even better that I could win this race. I knew I could run with Nick Rose – no problem. We came to the race, and it was extremely cold. Oh my God, it was cold. I’m from the mountains and can take cold weather, but this was something else. We went out and through three miles I was in the top ten. I was biding my time and thinking of when I would make my move. But, about four-and-a-half miles, I developed a stitch in my stomach. It is what we call ‘the kick of the mule.’ It bent me over. I could not run. When that started, I was in eighth or ninth place, but I couldn’t breathe. Runners were going by me – not one or two, but ten guys. When I got to the finish line, I didn’t care about my place. I was glad the race was over. If you hadn’t mentioned I came in forty-first place, I wouldn’t have even known. I was in shape, but I couldn’t run the last three miles. That was a disgrace of a race for me, and I felt ashamed.
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Didn’t you at least have some retribution at the AAU National Championships?
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Five days later I ran the AAU National Championships. It was in San Mateo on a hilly course with a very tough field and I finished sixth. I was ahead of everyone who finished in front of me at the NCAAs except John Ngeno who won the AAU race. I knew I was in shape, but at the NCAAs the stitch in my gut killed me. The ‘kick of the mule’ happened to me one other time at a cross-country race in Chicago. The race came down to Frank Shorter, Neil Cusack of Ireland, Jack Bacheler, and me. I knew I could beat Jack Bacheler so, with a mile to go, I was thinking I would be in the top three. Then I got the stitch. Luckily, there was only a mile to go, but I ended up in twelfth place, just ahead of Craig Virgin.
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At the 1975 NCAA Championships, hosted by Brigham Young, John Ngeno won the 6-mile again in 28:20.66, with you a close second in 28:23.45 ahead of Craig Virgin in 28:25.36. Then in the 3-mile, John Ngeno doubled easily in 13:22.73, followed by a battle for the next places between Paul Geis in 13:36.76, you in 13:37.54, and Jeff Wells in 13:39.52. What are highlights from those races?
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It was held at altitude since Provo, Utah is at about five thousand feet. I ran my heat for the 3-mile, and the next day was the 6-mile. John Ngeno was one of the best Africans, if not the best. His coach had him run straightaways hard and rest on the curves. He did that for a number of laps, and we let him go after about a thousand meters. Craig Virgin, two Africans and I stayed some distance behind Ngeno. We came to the last five hundred meters, and I started my kick. I was about seventy or eighty meters behind and ended up only fifteen or twenty meters behind John Ngeno. There was an article in the newspaper that said, ‘Jim Ryun would have been proud of the kick Domingo Tibaduiza had in the 10,000 meters.’ That was a nice compliment. The next day, we had the 5,000-meter competition. I was second most of the race to John Ngeno and Paul Geis outkicked me.
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Are there any other NCAA races we haven’t discussed that warrant mentioning?
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I won three times at the famous Mt. SAC Relays in the 6-mile or 10,000 meters. The fourth time, I was second in the three-mile and the guy that beat me was Ted Castaneda who outkicked me. In those four years of college, I was on a mission to get ready for the 1976 Montreal Olympics and I was running strong with everyone, including Steve Prefontaine. In May of 1974, there was a little incident that happened between Pre and me. He was scheduled to try for the 2-mile World Record in Bakersfield, California. We had a race which was scheduled for 6:00 pm. There was a strong wind, and both the runners and officials thought there was no chance for a fast time. The meet officials told us they could cancel the race or postpone it for a couple hours. We ended up running about three hours later. There was a South African to take the pace to set up a record pace. But the wind was still strong, and nobody wanted to lead the race. I didn’t want to lead because I was the smallest guy in the race and was thinking that the wind might throw me off the track. I stayed behind Pre, and we went by the mile at about 4:20. With two laps to go, I was right behind Pre. With 600 meters to go, he made a surge which was too far out for me to kick, so I waited and with three hundred meters to go I started catching Pre. I was getting closer and closer and closer. We finished and I ran 8:34. He beat me by about seven tenths of a second. Then he turned around, looked at me and said, ‘You’re the Colombian.’ I said, ‘Yes, I am the Colombian.’ He said with excitement, ‘Boy, you have improved!’ I don’t know how he remembered me, because we hadn’t raced too often, but he said something very nice to me. I thanked him.
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MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS Let’s discuss the times you raced in the South American Championships and Pan Am Games as they are especially important for athletes from South America, Central America, and Mexico. What are your main takeaways from your first South American Championships in 1975 in Rio de Janeiro as you won the Silver Medal at 10,000 meters in 28:45.8 as you finished in the same time as your countryman, Victor Mora, and two days later won the Gold Medal at 5,000 meters in 14:01.2 by a second over Mora?
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That was a good experience. That was a good year since, as we discussed, I was coming off second in the NCAA 6-mile and third in the NCAA 3-mile in Provo, Utah. After the NCAAs, I went to Colombia and the South American Games were one of my priorities. I was running well, and I wanted to win both races. At the time, there were some good runners in South America. There was Edmundo Warnke from Chile. He lived in Germany, but he represented Chile in all the events and was a great runner. Then, my countryman, Victor Mora, was a super road racer. On the roads, he was unbeatable. So, there was great competition in both races. In the 10,000 meters, I keyed on Edmundo Warnke, and he keyed on me. We got away from Victor Mora in the last thousand meters. I waited to kick until the last two hundred meters and went – boom! I thought I had the race won, until the last meter or so. Victor Mora came up right next to me, but I still thought I had won the race. Two hours went by, and the officials didn’t have the final results. We kept asking, ‘What’s going on?’ I was wondering if I had won the race, but they said they were checking the photo finish picture. Then, unfortunately, they said the photo finish picture didn’t work. There was controversy and, of the six judges, three said I won and three said that Victor won. The officials informed the Colombian delegation that there was a problem as the judges didn’t know who won between Victor and me. Then the Colombian delegation said, ‘Give the win to Mora. Domingo is young and is going to win many more South American Championships.’ So, they gave him the win. I still thought I had won. A couple days later, in the 5,000 meters, the three of us came to the last lap. It was Warnke, Mora and me. With three hundred meters to go, I said to Mora, ‘Let’s see if they give you the race again.’ Then I kicked and the race was over right there. I beat him. We did not like each other and we were enemies on the track. Mora was a character, and we could not get along. When I won the 5,000 meters, I did something I only did that one time in my life. When I finished, I went from the first lane to the fourth lane. I didn’t mean to humiliate him, but I did.
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At the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City, the two Mexicans, Luis Hernandez and Rodolfo Gomez, beat you in the 10,000 meters, as you finished in Bronze Medal position in 29:25.45. What are memories of that first of two races?
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After the South Americans Games, I was running well. The Pan American Games were second in priority to the Olympic Games. I had run my first Pan Am Games in 1971 in Cali, Colombia. Steve Prefontaine won the 5,000 meters in 1971. Frank Shorter won the 10,000 meters in Cali. In 1971 I ran 5,000 meters with Steve Prefontaine. I had every bit of information I could gather about Steve Prefontaine, and I looked up to him. I still have the Sports Illustrated magazine the first time he was on the cover when he ran for the University of Oregon. The three guys I looked up to were Steve Prefontaine, Gerry Lindgren and my friend, Billy Mills. They were the inspiration for me as a runner. In 1971, I was too young, too inexperienced, and didn’t have a coach. I ran the best I could but knew that in four years in 1975 I would be a different individual. That is when I had my plan that in 1975, when the Pan Am Games were at altitude in Mexico City, I wanted to see if Steve Prefontaine would beat me again. I challenged myself to be so ready and I trained well. In order to get ready for the Mexico City altitude. I took a semester off at the University of Nevada-Reno. I went to Bogota in Colombia and trained for the Pan Am Games. But I hurt my right knee and then I had additional problems with my Achilles tendon and my back. The tendon right below my kneecap bothered me and I couldn’t run for three weeks. Sports medicine wasn’t advanced at that time, especially in Colombia. About twelve days before the Pan Am Games I started running again. I had trained hard before, had twelve days, and decided to go to the Pan Am Games. In the 10,000 meters, my knee was a little sore, so I didn’t kick at all. Hernandez and Gomez just went and outkicked me and I couldn’t do a thing about that. But I have this occurrence on the track – every time I run two races; I feel better in the second race. In the 5,000 meters, I faced Gomez, Hernandez, Casteneda and Warnke. Everybody was there. In the 1970s, the Pan Am Games were the second most competitive event in the world behind only the Olympics. To me, it was important just like the Olympics. After the 10,000 meters, the President of Mexico invited Hernandez and Gomez to the Palace. There was a conference and Rodolfo Gomez said, ‘I just got married and the gift for my wife is going to be the Gold Medal in the 5,000 meters.’ They asked me what I thought, and I said, ‘The 5,000 meters is another race, and it is going to be different than the 10,000 meters. I am going to try to win it and, this time, I think I will be able to kick.’
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Three days later you earned the Gold Medal at 5,000 meters in 14:02.0 ahead of the USA’s Ted Casteneda and Rodolfo Gomez. What can you tell us about that race?
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I knew that it would be hard to outkick Ted Castaneda because he had a super kick. He could beat anybody over the last 200 meters. When I was warming up, Ted Castaneda and the other American asked me what I thought Hernandez and Gomez would try to do in the race. We had a ten-minute talk, and I gave them information. I thought they were worried about everyone except me. We ran the 5,000 meters and I was a machine. I was so into the race. It was one of the few times that I went into the zone. I didn’t have to think about anything. With two laps to go, I was feeling good. I knew I had to kick long because, if it came to the last two hundred meters, Castaneda and Gomez would go by me. I started my kick with about 700 meters to go. I was going and going and going. At the bell for the last lap, I was about twenty meters ahead. I looked back one time with 200 meters to go, and I still had fifteen or twenty meters on Ted Casteneda and Rodolfo Gomez. I thought, ‘They are never going to catch me.’ I started pumping my knees up and pumping my arms and I finished well. They didn’t catch me, and it was a great race for Colombia. A Gold Medal in the 5,000 meters had never had happened in Pan Am Games for the country of Colombia and never happened again, so it was important. The President of Colombia called me on the telephone. I did miss not having Steve Prefontaine there. More than anything, I missed not having him in the 5,000 meters since he had died. That was quite a shock.
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Continuing with our discussion of international championships, two years later in 1977 the South American Championships were held in Montevideo, Uruguay and you came away with two Gold Medals in the 10,000 meters with a time of 29:44.2 with no one closer than thirteen seconds and in the 5,000 meters as you raced 14:24.4 to beat Brazil’s Darcy Pereira at 14:25.4 and your countryman, Jairo Correa, at 14:26.0. What are memories since the 10,000-meters was an easy win and the 5,000-meters was close?
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The 10,000-meter race was easy to win. In the 10,000 meters, I had a big lead. The problem was that the track surface wasn’t even cinders. It was a sand track. The first few laps we ran in the first lane. Then in the middle of the race we ran in the second lane. By the last ten laps, I ran in the third lane because the track wasn’t good. I wasn’t racing fast as my feet were digging into the sand. The race would have easily been a minute or more faster on a good track. The 5,000 meters was more competitive because Darcy Pereira from Brazil was a kicker. I was able to outkick him in the last two hundred meters, but the track was in unbelievably bad shape because of heavy rains.
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You raced extraordinarily strong in the summer of 1978 as you ran a PR of 27:53.02 in the 10,000 meters behind Henry Rono in Vienna, Austria and a seventh place 5,000 meters at Weltklasse Zurich Switzerland of 13:29.67. What can you say about how you executed such fast racing that year?
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I received an invitation to be part of a student conference in East Berlin. They wanted me to represent South America, and they paid for my way there. While I was there, I decided that, since I was already there, I would run some of the races in Europe. That’s when I ran second place to Henry Rono when he set the 10,000 meters World Record. That year is also when I set my PRs for 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. I didn’t get injured, and it was a great year. I was able to run many races in Europe because I had won the San Silvestre Road Race. Both 1977 and 1978 were good years for racing.
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In 1979, you didn’t compete in the Pan Am Games, but at the November 1979 South American Championships in Bucaramanga, Colombia you earned two Silver Medals in the 10,000 meters in 28:51.2.4 and the 5,000 meters in 14:03.4. What do you recall of that meet as your countryman, Silvio Salazar, beat you by last than a second in the 10,000 meters and the Chilean, Alejandro Silva, edged you by five seconds in the 5,000 meters?
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In 1979 I got injured. I was doing a lot of mileage and speed work and that aggravated a problem in my back. It was because I have a leg length discrepancy between my left leg and right leg of two centimeters. That prevented me from competing in the Pan American Games that year. When the doctors determined I had the two-centimeter leg length discrepancy, the solution was to add an insert in my shoe to solve the problem. So, I had only about three weeks to train for the South American Games. People expected me to compete for Colombia, so I went to the Games out of shape. I also was the coach for the Colombian National team, so I coached Silvio, and he was my roommate. He was my discovery. I went out hard in the 10,000 meters anyway and felt good. The only runner who stayed with me was my own pupil. Silvio was super quick, and he outkicked me. In the 5,000 meters, the Chilean outkicked me. I came in second place in both races even though I wasn’t in shape for the competition.
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In the Pan Am Games in 1983 in Caracas, Venezuela there was a strong Mexican contingent. You finished second a couple seconds behind Jose Gomez in the 10,000 meters in 29:17.12, but five seconds ahead of the USA’s Mark Nenow and third in the 5,000 meters in 13:59.68, five seconds behind two Mexicans, Eduardo Castro, and Gerardo Alcala. Though you didn’t win either race, was it still good to bring home Silver and Bronze Medals for your country?
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I travelled from Finland where I ran in the first World Track and Field Championships. I wanted to run the marathon in Finland because I thought I had a chance for a medal, but the Colombian officials only entered me in the 10,000 meters. So, a week later I was in Venezuela for the Pan Am Games. I led much of the way in the 10,000 meters, but Jose Gomez was a kicker, and he was so fast. With five hundred meters to go, he was gone, and I had to duke it out with Mark Nenow for second place and got him easily the last two hundred meters. When I came back for the 5,000 meters, my legs were dead, and I just wanted to somehow finish the race. With a quarter mile to go, it was between the two Mexicans and me. When they started kicking, it was bye-bye. The Americans who raced 5,000 meters, Don Clary, and Chris Fox, were very good runners but they didn’t race well. Also, in the 10,000 meters was the USA prodigy, Thom Hunt, who didn’t have a good race.
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What are some other memories of your racing in Europe?
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In July of 1974, I decided after the NCAAs in Texas that I would go to Europe, try some races, and take my chances there. So, I took the Greyhound bus to New York City and took a charter flight for one hundred twenty dollars to Amsterdam and back. I ran some races in Europe. There was a race in Milan in July and Prefontaine was in the race. The 5,000 meters was the premier event. Emil Puttemans, Rod Dixon, Guiseppe Gerbi, Frank Shorter, and Pre were all in the race. Pre tried what he always did in the States, and he took off on the third lap. But we didn’t let him go. I passed him on about the fifth or sixth lap and I thought, ‘Oh my God – I’m going to beat Pre.’ We finished and I was in eighth place with a slow time as we all kicked. I thought, ‘Okay, I got Pre.’ I kept waiting and there was no sign of Pre. He never finished the race. In the evening there was a big post-race party. We had some wine and good food, and I ran into Pre. I said, ‘Hey Pre! How are you doing?’ He answered, ‘I’m doing fine.’ I said, ‘What happened in the race? I thought I beat you, but I didn’t see you finish.’ He then said, ‘I didn’t finish. They didn’t pay me enough.’ That was funny! For once I thought I would have beaten Pre if he finished the race. I have so many good memories from those four years because I learned how to train myself and how to really run. I needed good competition and to run fast. In 1976, if I had stayed in the United Staes and run road races before the Olympics instead of going back to Colombia, I would have raced well at the Olympics. Instead, I feel I wasted those four years as far as my Olympic performance.
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ROAD RACING Let’s start with the 1978 San Silvestre Road Race which is very big and respected in South America. What can you relate about winning this iconic race against great competitors such as the USA’s Greg Meyer, Mexico’s Luis Hernandez and two top Germans?
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It was held in Brazil, and they invited Olympic Champions and World Champions. Everybody wanted to be there on December 31st at midnight for the San Silvestre. The race was 8.4 kilometers and in English translated as ‘Round the Houses.’ It is still an important race. Back in those days it was THE event. Since I won that race, I could run any race in Europe.
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In 1981 you ran some great marathons as you were second at the Auckland, New Zealand Marathon in 2:14:09, second again at the Montreal Marathon in 2:12:22.7 and ninth at the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:13:04 when it was the unofficial World Championship. What helped you to run such strong marathons that year?
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It was a good year, but it was hard to believe I raced so well because I wasn’t training close to as strong as I did from 1972 to 1976 and my mind was not in it. I wasn’t as competitive as I could have been, but I ran everywhere. My best marathon was in Montreal. That was the Nation’s Cup Marathon, it was a super good field. There were about twenty Africans, and they took off from the gun – boom! The rest of the international athletes stayed back. They went through the half marathon in sixty-two minutes. The rest of us were at about sixty-three thirty. A good minute-and-a half behind the leaders. At about 30 kilometers, I started catching guys. I was moving and moving and caught one guy, the next one, the next one, the next one, the next one, and the next one. With a mile to go I was in second place. I didn’t catch the great Ethiopian, Balchar Kebede. What was totally unexpected was that the Colombian team finished second to the Ethiopians, only by about twelve seconds, in the competition between nations.
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You mentioned that you were racing often and I noted that in 1981 at the Cascade Runoff 15k you were 3rd in 43:23.6, you finished the Peachtree 10k in eighth place in 28:42, at the Virginia 10-miler you were third in 47:52 and you won the Youngstown International Peace Race 10k in 29:13, which is my wife’s dad’s hometown. Was it enjoyable to compete against the best of the best and finish strong as you raced often to make a living?
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That is essentially what I was doing. It was a means to an end. The way to put bread on the table was to win money. At the 1981 Cascade Runoff 15k, the authorities said that anyone who competed would lose their Olympic status. I was still one of the first to sign up. I got equipment from Nike. They asked me if I wanted to run and I said, ‘Count me in.’ I didn’t plan on being in any more Olympics. Even though I finished third, I was only half the runner I used to be.
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Can you tell us about the 1982 San Francisco Marathon where your younger brother, Miguel Tibaduiza, won in 2:14:32, followed by you in 2:14:53, then two Americans, Harold Schulz in 2:15:09 and Ric Sayre in 2:15:29?
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I was tired from running many marathons, but the race staff talked me into running. I was thinking, ‘I just have to run and win.’ The prize for winning was decent. They also gave me some appearance money. After about fifteen or seventeen kilometers, I said to Miguel, ‘All these guys are keying on me. Why don’t you go ahead and make some time?’ He did that and one guy went with him. By the time I got to twenty miles, I was a good two minutes behind Miguel. I decided that I would make it a decent race. From twenty to twenty-six miles, I picked it up and left everyone else. I made time on Miguel. By the time I got to the last mile, I thought, ‘I could catch him, or stay here. The win would be great for Miguel.’ I knew I could live with that. We finished and I was more than happy to see my younger brother beat me in the race. It was a great experience.
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In April of 1983 at the Rome Marathon, it was a three-man race and Guiseppe Gerbi ran 2:15:11 to nip you by one second in 2:15:12, with Gianpaolo Messina six seconds behind you in 2:15:18. Usually, you come through with a kick to win, so what allowed Gerbi to finish on top that time?
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The Italian, Guiseppe Gerbi was a super kicker. He was a 10,000-meter runner and had a great kick. I knew that coming into the race. I tried to drop him three or four times, and I couldn’t shake Gerbi. He was right on my heels. So, I played it by ear. We got to the last four hundred meters, and he started kicking. I was right there but could not catch him. He outkicked me, but it was a good race. The course was a bit slow, and it was also my fifth marathon of the year.
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Not long after the Rome Marathon, in June you raced the 1983 Stockholm Marathon where Hugh Jones won in 2:11:37, followed by Agaplus Masong of Tanzania in 2:11:54, the USA’s Paul Cummings in 2:12:39, you in 2:12:46 and Kjell-Erik Stahl in 2:12:49. What are highlights of that effort?
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It wasn’t that long after Rome and I came in fourth place. I was running so many marathons that it was a crazy year.
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After the 1984 Olympics, you kept racing frequently from 1985 to 1989 and earning some income from running. What can you relate about when you became a Masters runner in 1990 and big Masters wins such as the 1990 Twin Cities Marathon in 2:18:56 as you were ninth place overall and earned $7,000 and the 1992 TAC Masters Cross Country Championships where you were first by 59 seconds in 33:32. After twenty plus years of racing, was this a rebirth as you moved into the Masters division?
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It was good. I hadn’t thought about running in the Masters division, but it happened. I had managed to get my second degree in Education, so I became a teacher, and I was working plus coaching cross country and track in high school. But I still managed to get some time to train. At first winning the Masters division in most races was pretty easy. I didn’t even have to go at one hundred percent. Winning the Twin Cities Marathon for the Masters division was very big as it was one of the largest paydays of my entire career. Another big one was when I won an 8k race in San Jose, California. The Master’s division was kind of new, and I ran a World Best time which stood for some time. That was a second wind for me as a Master, and it was fun to run against some of the guys who persevered in the sport. Running and racing as a Master was a happy time.
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For you to run and race for so many years, how much was running an integral part of your daily life?
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Running was therapy for me. When I was sad, I went out for a run. When I was happy, I would go for a run. There was a time when I didn’t like Christmas and other holidays because they interrupted my training. Anything that was in the way of my running was a problem.
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MISCELLANEOUS AND WRAP UP After a successful career, you were inducted into University of Nevada – Reno Hall of Fame in 1985. In 2022 you were named to the ‘Legends of the Pack’ as one of the top five cross country athletes in program history along with Peter Duffy, Skip Houk, Derrick May, and Tom Wysocki. Are these honors and others you have received both gratifying and humbling?
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Any kind of recognition is good, especially when you are still alive. But I am so disappointed in the University of Nevada-Reno for cutting men’s cross-country and track and field in 1986 since those sports competed the best of any men’s sports. In fact, when I finished sixth at the AAU National Cross-Country Championships, our team finished twelfth against all the best clubs in the nation. I was actually mad about UNR cutting the teams. Each year they invite me to the Hall of Fame banquet, but I am still disillusioned because of what happened. I have been trying to get track and field and cross-country re-established for men and have even talked to our U.S. Senators in Nevada. I have more recognition in Colombia. I was voted the top track and field athlete of the twentieth century in Colombia. I am very happy about that, and it makes me nostalgic. It is nice to know that people recognize what I have done. From the days when I was ten years old, I have been different. I had this drive and people looked at me like I was weird. People thought I would blow up or get burned out. But I kept thinking, ‘What if I don’t get burned out?’
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How is your current health and what do you do for fitness? Do you run, walk, cycle, swim, go to the gym or do some combination of activities to stay in shape?
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I thank God every day that I have been so healthy. Other than my running injuries, I haven’t had any sickness that is worth mentioning. I run about eight miles every other day. I live outside the city of Reno on the way to Lake Tahoe and run my loop in the mountains. I don’t snow ski. I love the mountains even though one knee has a little problem. I do some strength work at the gym a couple of times per week. I bike when I can. In Reno it is either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. I do go to Colombia and will leave soon. That is where I do a lot of sports. The weather in Colombia is nice and I can run or bike 365 days a year. I keep in shape as much as I can.
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| GCR: |
When you are coaching kids, how do you sum up the major lessons you have learned during your life from growing up in a large family in Colombia, the discipline of running, coming to the USA, and overcoming adversity that all comes together in the ‘Domingo Tibaduiza philosophy’ of being your best as an athlete and in life?
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| DT |
It’s all about finding something that you love and sticking with it even if it means sacrificing everything. That was my slogan from a very young age. I knew that, when I found my niche, I was going to stick with it and go as far as my mind and body allowed me. If you find something that you love, plan for it, put your mind and your body in it, and eventually you will be the best version of yourself. That is what I tell people.
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Inside Stuff |
| Hobbies/Interests |
When I was running there was no time for hobbies. Running was on my mind twenty-four hours a day when I was running, coaching, and taking my kids to races. Now I collect stamps. I play tennis, ping-pong, and chess. These are the things I did as a young kid that I am doing again now. In Colombia, we have a little apartment in the city of Bogota, the capital city. There is a place nearby for seniors that is a huge club where I can swim and do many other things
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| Nicknames |
My last name of Tibaduiza is long, even for Colombians, and it comes from the native people of Colombia. So, from the first time I went to a national championship, when I was about fifteen years old, they shortened my name and called me ‘Tiba.’ That was my big nickname. Every time I was in the newspaper it was as ‘Tiba’
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| Favorite movies |
One of my pastimes is watching movies for three or four hours a day. One of my favorite actors and movies was Anthony Quinn in ‘Zorba the Greek’
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| Favorite TV shows |
One I can remember is ‘Three’s Company.’ I watched that quite a bit. When I was young, I watched the first ‘I Love Lucy’ shows when I was in Colombia
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| Favorite music |
I like soft rock. I also like country music and some of the Colombian music that is popular in my region and my state
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| Favorite books |
‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napolean Hill made an impact on my life. When I came to the states, I didn’t have a mastery of the language. I did take a class in Spanish literature which helped me. One book that is THE book to me is ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. It is a great book that is the story of humanity. It is now a Netflix television series
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| First car |
A Honda Civic
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| Current car |
We drive a Tesla, believe it or not
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| First Jobs |
In my youth, there were no laws against children going out to work. At twelve years old, I was working at a company that made glass windows and doors. They paid me about two pesos a day, which was less than a penny. I had a bike, so I would make deliveries for them by riding my bike. That is how I got that job. I was a delivery boy. I had odd jobs when I came to Reno. I drove a taxi. I was a busboy. I was a waiter in the casinos
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| Family |
We have talked about my parents, Rosalba and Domingo Tibaduiza, and my children Ronald, Raul, Tatyana, and Bryan. Next year in 2026 will be fifty years that my wife, Angela, and I have been married. My wife was never into sports but, when we married, she decided that she wanted to try running to see what it was like. She ran a marathon in 3:07 and brought it down to 2:56, then 2:53 and finally 2:45. For 1984, she had the time to qualify for the Olympic Trials with the 2:45. But we had children, and she couldn’t make it to the race. It was good to see my wife get into the sport and for us to be a family of runners. She did all that great marathon racing in two years
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| Pets |
: My mother was not into pets. We did have dogs, rabbits, and cats, but that was in the country in the small town. When we moved to the capital, we did not have any pets. Now, my wife and I are retired, and we have five dogs. One belonged to my oldest son and his job didn’t allow him to have his dog. His name is ‘Curry’ after the great basketball player. Another we got from him is ‘Luna.’ We got two from another son – the dogs are named ‘Luigi’ and ‘Mario’ like in the video games. My daughter had one tiny dog called ‘Chicken’ that we have now
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| Favorite breakfast |
Coffee or hot chocolate, bread, and fruit salad
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| Favorite meal |
Two foods I can never do without are rice and potatoes. I love them both. My favorite meat is fish. I eat a lot of shrimp. I also like chicken. I have very little steak
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| Favorite beverages |
I drink a little bit of wine every now and then. I like all kinds of fruit juices. I buy oranges and make fresh orange juice. In Colombia, we have a paradise of fruits. There are a thousand tropical fruits. I am like a kid in a country store trying all sorts of fruits
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| Special running memory |
One memory has to do with my dad. He was never into sports. He was a tailor and working. He started playing the violin at five years old and ended up having his own musical group that played everywhere in town. But he was an alcoholic. For the first few years when I was young, my mom would have me go with my dad when his group played in case he got drunk, and I could help him get home. He was my idol for about the first ten years of my life. Then I grew up and we fell apart totally – one hundred percent. In 1968, I was in the military and there was a big race in Bogota. They called it ‘The Labors Marathon,’ though it was only a 12k distance. This race started at the national university and went around the city. Coincidentally, it went about eighty yards from the house where we lived in Bogota. About halfway into the race, I took off and was in the lead. About one-half kilometer from the finish, I took a turn and was close to where we lived. I saw this person and it was my dad. That was the only race, the one time, that he saw me running. It was a shock to see him there. He said, ‘Ve, hijo!’ which means ‘Go son.’ It is a special, great memory ever since
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| Running heroes |
As I mentioned before, Steve Prefontaine, Billy Mills and Gerry Lindgren. Also, Alvaro Mejia is a hero with no question. He was the pioneer of track and field running in Colombia. He was also my advisor. He wasn’t my coach, but he gave me advice. Eventually, he became a very good friend. He passed away a few years ago, but he was a dear friend. The destiny for me was that, when we moved to Bogota, I happened to live in a neighborhood that was about a mile from where Alvaro lived. So, at fourteen years old, I was already doing some runs with Alvaro. He ran at 5:30 in the morning. I would run to his house, wait for him at 5:30, and run with Alvaro out to the mountains. He taught me a lot about running and it was fate
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| Greatest running moments |
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| Most disappointing running moment |
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| Childhood dreams |
I never thought about anything else other than being a great athlete. Before I came to the states, I had an academic scholarship available in Colombia and I thought for a while, ‘Maybe I’ll be a lawyer.’ But that was a passing thought. I am a simple person and a simple man, and I have simple dreams and simple needs
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| Unusual racing memory |
There was the Bay-to-Breaker’s race in San Francisco which was a crazy race. It was in 1974 that I decided to run that race. The start was crazy as I was a bit scared that I could get trampled and it could be the end of my career. I love hills and there is one hill that goes way up before it comes down toward the bay. I took off on that hill and ran away from most of the guys. But Ric Rojas from New Mexico caught up to me with about a mile to go. I knew Ric and knew I could outsprint him. I figured I would kick toward the end. There was a point where we took a left turn, and the wind started blowing like crazy. But I had decided I would begin my kick there and so I did. I got thirty or forty yards on Ric in no time. But I was fighting the wind and Ric came by. I got behind him and thought I could still outkick him but, when I finished, I felt like I was jogging. It was funny because I had never given up and given an inch to anybody but that day the wind got the best of me, and I came in second place. Why didn’t I fight? But I gave up instead of my usual mentality, which was to go to the wire and, if I had to drag myself across the line, I would. That is one of those days that I still can’t figure out
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| Favorite places to travel |
I have been to places that I couldn’t have thought of in my wildest imagination. Lake Tahoe is one of the top places. It is a beautiful place any time of the year. Of course, I love going to Colombia. I am always longing to see where I lived, where I grew up, and I have a thousand cousins over there. I spend a lot of time in Colombia. I will be leaving soon for Colombia. I spend four or five months there every year
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| Choose a Superhero – Batman, Superman, or Spiderman? |
Spiderman. When I was a boy, my mom had that little grocery store. We used to get all of these comic books – Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Tarzan. I was the one in charge of comic books. I had a space in the grocery store, and I would rent the comic books. The boys that like to read comics couldn’t afford to buy them. So, I rented them out for one penny for each comic book. Every so often, I would get new comic books, and I would read every one of them. I used to devour all of those comic books, and I got a lot of good ideas about life from reading them
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| Choose a theme park – Disney World or Universal Orlando? |
I’ve been to both of them, but I like Disney better
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| Choose the beach or mountains? |
I am a mountain man – one hundred percent
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| Choose a Sylvester Stallone - Rocky or Rambo? |
Rocky
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| Choose a tough guy – Vin Diesel or The Rock? |
Vin Diesel. One of my sons looks exactly like Vin Diesel. He isn’t as tall, but resembles Vin Diesel
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| Choose riding SpaceX or climbing Mt. Everest? |
Climbing Mt. Everest by far. I thought about doing that a few years ago. I read an article, and no Colombian had climbed Mt. Everest at the time. That would have been something to have done that
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| Final comments from Domingo |
I am just a simple guy, and this is the normal life of an athlete. Thank you for talking with me for all this time and listening to my anecdotes. I am looking forward to seeing how you put this together. It was nice to talk with someone who knows the sport. Thank you again and keep up the good work
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