Jefferson Pérez

Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born July 1, 1974 in Cuenca) is an Ecuadorian race walker. He specializes in the 20km event, in which he has won the only two medals his country has ever achieved in the Olympic Games.

He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, becoming the youngest-ever gold medal winner in the 20km walk event. Following his win he embarked on a 459km pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca. [ [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1270859,00.html "True Olympians"] ] In the 2008 Olympics he won the silver medal in the same competition at 34 years of age, before announcing his retirement from the sport. [ [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/23/content_8032816.htm "Ecuadorian walker Jefferson Perez trains alone for Beijing-2008"] , Xinhua, April 23, 2008]

In the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France, Pérez also set the world best performance (as there are no world records in race walking) with 1:17:21.

Pérez had 4th place finishes in the 20 km walk at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Personal life

Jefferson was born in El Vecino, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cuenca, to Manuel Jesús Pérez and María Lucrecia Quezada. Like others in his neighborhood, his family was of limited economic means. He attended the elementary schools Eugenio Espejo and Gabriela Cevallos. Afterwards he entered the Francisco Febres Cordero, high school, at the same time working to help out his family.

The beginnings

He entered race-walking by accident. To prepare for a walk that served as a high school physical education exam, he asked his brother Fabián to train for one week next to the group of athletes directed by trainer Luis Muñoz. Muñoz decided to invite him to compete in a race. With few weeks of preparation he won the race AID, winning the right of representing Ecuador in New York and London as a sport ambassador.

Initially he participated in distance competitions of five kilometres. Later he had to make a radical decision, which was to dedicate himself completely to race walking. His first regional trophy in the 5K walk during the South American Pre-Junior championship held in his native city of Cuenca.

Individual Achievements

His first international achievement occurred when he won the bronze medal in the Junior World Cup of Athletics in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1990.

Two years later, he won the Junior World title in Seoul, Korea, followed shortly by victories in South American and Pan-American open competitions. His crowning achievement in race-walking came with a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. He won a silver medal, his second medal, at the Beijing Olympic Games.

He also won the silver at the World Championships of Seville in 1999, and unprecedented golds at Paris in 2003, Helsinki in 2005, and Osaka in 2007 for his third straight world title. In France he broke the world record and he received a financial bonus.

Perez walked his final race at the World Race Walking Challenge final in Murcia, Spain. He finished third in that race and second in the overall challenge standings. [ [http://www.iaaf.org/WRC08/news/kind=100/newsid=47797.html Fernandez and Feitor take Murcia wins; Overall titles for Tallent & Plätzer – Race Walking Challenge Final - IAAF] ]

External links

* [http://www.jeffersonperez.com Official Homepage]
* [http://www.racewalk.com/JPerez/JPerez.asp Photos about his technique]
* [http://www.iaaf.org/WCH05/news/Kind=2/newsId=31024.html The sacrifice of a friend pays dividend for Perez and Ecuador] - article on IAAF.org

References