They say that limitations are in the mind. Jonathan Sebastián Delgado Barrero, an eighth-semester law student at the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), proves this to be true.
On several occasions, I saw him in the university hallways navigating his wheelchair and, in his free time, running on the track at the Estadio 1° de Marzo. In fact, that’s where we met. It was 9:00 a.m. and the sun was shining brightly in the Ciudad Bonita. His charisma and smile generated a confidence that connected us. He came into this world to shine with his own light. He has done so throughout his 26 years of life.
Jonathan Sebastián survived a traffic accident between Enciso and Carcasí, in the province of García Rovira, when he was only two months old. As a result of this accident, he suffered spinal cord trauma in his cauda equina and was left with an injury to his lumbar vertebrae at the L2 level. He can move his legs and has sensitivity and strength, but his mobility is reduced. He uses a wheelchair at university to get around faster. He also walks with crutches.
Two people died as a result of the accident, including his maternal grandmother, Teresa Barrero.
He says he learned to cope with his condition thanks to the support and confidence his mother always instilled in him. She taught him that “I can’t” did not exist. This was reinforced by his classmates.
“The early years were difficult because you don’t understand things very well, and it’s frustrating to see other children playing. Besides, at that time there was no innovation and I lived in a very small town, but you learn to adapt. Fortunately, my injury is not so complex, as I don’t have a permanent limitation, meaning that if there’s a staircase, I can climb it. Even at university, sometimes the elevator in the Humanities building doesn’t work, and I walk up to class with the help of my crutches. But there are always challenges,“ he says. As a teenager, it was the opposite; he learned to be more ”cool,” he says with a mischievous look and a smile on his face.
Sports changed his story
“My injury is minor, it’s rare,” he explains. However, this has never been an impediment to achieving more than he sets out to do. Before athletics, he was a soloist in bands in García Rovira and was part of the Tuna UIS in his first semesters. Until sport, almost by accident, found him. First it was basketball and then the discipline that has him running on the track to improve his times.
In 2023, he signed up for the Ciudad Bonita race. The category for his condition was free. He competed with a heavy, aerodynamically challenged hospital chair. He came in second place.
That’s how he started training. He says he did it in a conventional red wheelchair. On this first outing, he completed 28 laps. Some time later, another athlete told him to try running in his wheelchair.
“The carbon wheels were worth $15 million, and the man said yes. They had to be brought in from the United States, but luckily a friend in the Marine Corps happened to be on a mission in Atlanta and managed to bring them over at no extra cost. It was a perfect fit,” he recalls, still incredulous.
But this was the boost that allowed him to improve his performance. However, when he had conventional wheels, he competed in the 2025 National Interleague and Interclub Para Athletics Championships, where he won three bronze medals in the 5000, 100, and 1500 meters.
“Since I started my studies at the UIS in 2022, I have run the Athletic Race. The first year I competed, we started at La Flora Stadium and ran along Carrera 33 to the University, and I finished 23rd overall with a time of 24 minutes. Last year, which was an internal race, I competed, but at a slow pace because there are a lot of hills here, as it is a closed circuit. For example, going downhill I can make up time, but there were already a lot of people. So, I didn’t want to risk falling or hurting someone,” she says.
She is currently training Monday through Saturday for the 35th UIS Athletic Race. The sporting event will take place on Sunday, March 15, at the UIS Central Campus, with a 4-kilometer course suitable for walkers, joggers, and runners. The day will begin at the Luis A. Calvo Parking Lot at the UIS and end at the Athletics Track at the 1° de Marzo Stadium. The start is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. for women.
The event will feature various categories, including students, employees, teachers, graduates, external participants, and master categories (ages 50 to 59 and over 60), for both women and men.
In addition, he is preparing for the 2027 Paranational Games qualifiers. He does not receive financial support, as incentives depend on national medals that are yet to be won. That is why he combines high performance with law. He works as an assistant in civil cases, drafts lawsuits, and learns by litigating. Each fee helps him pay for travel, supplements, and equipment for the discipline he practices.
Colombia has an outstanding Paralympic delegation that competes in multiple disciplines, including para-athletics, para-swimming, para-cycling, wheelchair tennis, para-archery, para-shooting, and para-triathlon, among others.
According to the Colombian Paralympic Committee, the national para-athletics delegation is made up of 16 athletes from eight departmental leagues (Valle, Santander, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Cauca, Córdoba, Bolívar, and Tolima).
The UIS: constant support
Jonathan Sebastián always wanted to study at the UIS. His mother even told him that if he wanted to go to study in another city, she would support him, but he was always clear about his interest in attending one of the best universities in the country, with prestige and recognition, added to the fact that Bucaramanga was a city he knew and allowed him better mobility.
He currently benefits from the cafeterias and student residences located on the central campus. He says that this is a great help to his family’s budget and allows him more time to study and train.
He trains alongside conventional athletes. He runs with a speedometer and sets the exact pace so that his teammates do not wear themselves out in terms of time or physically.
Colombia has made great strides in providing spaces for people with reduced mobility, both in terms of recommended treads and counter-treads, with different textures and colors to warn of changes in level. The UIS has promoted these changes, and Jonathan Sebastián has contributed recommendations and suggestions such as polished ramps, wider elevators, and electric carts to assist with transporting people.
And although there is more empathy, this athlete from Garciaviro has encountered people who park their vehicles in front of access ramps or who do not give him priority to get on the elevator.
Jonathan Sebastián continues his athletic training. He knows he will go far. Little by little, he has managed to acquire the necessary equipment to practice this sport in the best way possible. However, much of his clothing must be brought in from Brazil or the United States, as the market in Colombia is limited. He is currently working with an industrial design research group to develop special gloves.
“We already have the molds, and we are testing them to see how efficient they are. With them, we will be able to leave the files so we can continue printing more gloves. These items are difficult to find here,” he says.
His story is not one of overcoming limitations, but rather of a mindset sown in time with the phrase, “Yes, I can.”
