- Daniel Plaza
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This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Plaza and the second or maternal family name is Montero.
Daniel Plaza Montero (born July 3, 1966 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) is a Spanish former race walker. Plaza is most famous for having won the 20 km walk at the 1992 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Spanish track & field athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal.
Plaza tested positive for the steroid nandrolone after the 1996 Spanish championships but denied taking it. He claimed the test result was due to prolonged oral sex with his pregnant wife (pregnant women may produce the steroid).
It took ten years, but in July 2006 he won a case to clear his name of a drugs ban. Spain's Supreme Court found in his favor after he took legal action over a two-year ban imposed by the Spanish Committee for Sporting Discipline.
He tested negative in further tests for the drug which normally takes three months to disappear from the system.
Achievements
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes Representing Spain 1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 12th 20 km 1:21:53 1989 World Race Walking Cup L'Hospitalet, Spain 11th 20 km 1:22:09 1990 European Championships Split, Yugoslavia 2nd 20 km 1:22:22 1991 World Race Walking Cup San Jose, United States 4th 20 km 1:21:00 1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 1st 20 km 1:21:45 1993 World Race Walking Cup Monterrey, Mexico 6th 20 km 1:24:52 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 20 km 1:23:18 1996 European Race Walking Cup La Coruña, Spain 2nd 20 km Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 11th 20 km 1:22:05 References
Olympic Champions in Men's 20 km Walk - 1956: Leonid Spirin (URS)
- 1960: Volodymyr Holubnychy (URS)
- 1964: Ken Matthews (GBR)
- 1968: Volodymyr Holubnychy (URS)
- 1972: Peter Frenkel (GDR)
- 1976: Daniel Bautista (MEX)
- 1980: Maurizio Damilano (ITA)
- 1984: Ernesto Canto (MEX)
- 1988: Jozef Pribilinec (TCH)
- 1992: Daniel Plaza (ESP)
- 1996: Jefferson Pérez (ECU)
- 2000: Robert Korzeniowski (POL)
- 2004: Ivano Brugnetti (ITA)
- 2008: Valeriy Borchin (RUS)
Categories:- 1966 births
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Living people
- Spanish racewalkers
- Catalan athletes
- Olympic athletes of Spain
- Olympic gold medalists for Spain
- Spanish sportspeople in doping cases
- Doping cases in athletics
- Sportspeople from Barcelona
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Spanish athletics biography stubs
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