Mimi Barona

Mimi Barona, born Dominic Isabel Barona Matute on 10 February 1991, is an Ecuadorian surfer regarded as one of the prominent surfers in her country, and the first surfer from Ecuador to compete at the Olympics. She took up surfing at 13, influenced by her older brother Israel Barona, who also surfs for Ecuador, and followed the Alas circuit in Peru, Costa Rica and Panama. In 2014 she finished second at the ISA World Surfing Games in Punta Rocas, Peru, and in 2016 she won gold in the women's open shortboard at the Bolivarian Games. She became the World Surf League South American champion in 2018 and won the 2019 Corona Pro Surf Circuit in Puerto Rico, then took silver in the women's open surf at the 2019 Pan American Games, the first medal for an Ecuadorian surfer there. She qualified for and competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first Games to include surfing, and was eliminated in round two of the women's shortboard.