Leryn Dahiana Franco Steneri (born 1 March 1982 in Asunción

Asunción

Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...

) is a Paraguayan model and athlete. She specializes in the javelin throw

Javelin throw

The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

 and became an internet sensation during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her personal best throw is 55.66 metres, achieved in June,2011 in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

. She is perhaps more famous for her beauty than athletic ability, however, and appeared, most notably, in the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

Raised in the capital of Asunción, she broke the national records for the under 17 year age group in 1998 for both the javelin and triple jump. After winning bronze medals in 1999 and 2000 Franco won the South American Junior Championship javelin title in 2001. Franco was South American under 23 champion in 2004.

Her performances at world level are 24th in the 2003 World Championship and 42nd out of 45 at the Athens Olympics. Although she set her personal best in 2007 she finished 12th (last) at the 2007 Pan American Games

2007 Pan American Games

The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in...

 in Rio de Janeiro. In 2008, she competed in the Beijing Olympics.

Achievements

Representing
2001	Universiade Athletics at the 2001 Summer Universiade At the 2001 Summer Universiade, the athletics events were held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. A total of 45 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 22 by female athletes. The host country, China, took the most gold medals and the most medals overall . The United States were a close...	Beijing, China	10th	43.69 m
2003	Pan American Games Athletics at the 2003 Pan American Games The athletics competition at the 2003 Pan American Games was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from Tuesday August 5 to Saturday August 9, 2003...	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	8th	50.21 m
	World Championships 2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...	Paris, France	24th	51.13 m 2003 World Championships in Athletics – Women's javelin throw These are the official results of the Women's Javelin Throw event at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France. There were a total number of 24 participating athletes, with the final held on Saturday 30 August 2003...
2004	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put...	Athens, Greece	42nd	50.37 m
2007	Pan American Games Athletics at the 2007 Pan American Games The athletics competition at the 2007 Pan American Games was held at the Flamengo Park and Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro between 22 July and 29 July 2007...	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	8th	52.24 m Athletics at the 2007 Pan American Games – Women's javelin throw The women's javelin throw event at the 2007 Pan American Games was held on July 27.-Results:-References:*...
	South American Championships 2007 South American Championships in Athletics The 2007 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Mello in São Paulo, Brazil from 7 June to 9 June 2007...	São Paulo, Brazil	3rd	53.80 m
2008	Olympic Games Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking...	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , PR China	51st	45.34 m
2011	South American Championships 2011 South American Championships in Athletics The 2011 South American Championships in Athletics were the 47th edition of the South American Championships, organised under the supervision of the CONSUDATLE. They were held at the National Center of High Performance Athletics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2 to 5 June 2011...	Buenos Aires, Argentina	2nd	55.66 m 2011 South American Championships in Athletics – Results These are the official results of the 2011 South American Championships in Athletics which took place on June 2–5, 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-100 meters:Heats – June 2Final – June 2-200 meters:Heats – June 4...  (NR Paraguayan records in athletics The following are the national records in athletics in Paraguay maintained by its national athletics federation: Federación Paraguaya de Atletismo .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:A = affected by altitudex = mark was made in a mixed race-External links:... )
	Pan American Games Athletics at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletics competitions at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara was held from October 23 to October 30 at the newly built Telmex Athletics Stadium. The racewalking and marathon events were held on the temporary Guadalajara Circuit and Route and the Pan American Marathon circuit respectively...	Guadalajara, Mexico	13th	48.70 m Athletics at the 2011 Pan American Games – Women's javelin throw The women's javelin throw event of the athletics events at the 2011 Pan American Games was held the 27 of October at the Telmex Athletics Stadium...

Modeling and beauty pageants

She combines her athletic endeavours with a career as a model and beauty pageant contestant. In 2006, she was runner-up Miss Universo Paraguay 2006

Miss Universo Paraguay 2006

The Miss Universo Paraguay 2006 was held on April 14, 2006. That year, 18 candidates were competing for the national crown. The chosen winner, Lourdes Arévalos, represented Paraguay at the Miss Universe 2006 pageant and placed 3rd Runner-up.-Results:...

. She participated at the Miss Bikini Universe pageant and also has her own calendar, which was shot in 2007 by Martin Crespo. She placed #86 in AskMen.com

AskMen.com

AskMen.com is a free online men’s web portal, with international versions in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.-History:...

's 2009 "Top 99 Women" poll.

On 14 December 2009, Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report is a website that provides news and fans' opinions of sporting events.The website was launched in February 2008 by California-based entrepreneurs Dave Finocchio, Zander Freund, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nemetz...

, ranked her as No. 6 in its list of "The 40 Hottest Female Athletes Of The Decade" On 23 August 2010, Bleacher Report upgraded Leryn Franco to No. 1 in its list of "The 100 Hottest Athletes Of All Time".

External links

• sports-reference