- Luis Subercaseaux
Luis Subercaseaux Errázuriz was a
Chile an diplomat and athlete. He is claimed to be the first Chilean and South American sportsman to have competed in theOlympic Games , at the1896 Summer Olympics inAthens .He was the second son of Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña and Amalia Errázuriz Urmeneta, both of them members of well-known and well-off families.
According to the Comité Olímpico de Chile, Luis Subercaseaux Errázuriz competed at the age of 15 in the 100, 400 and 800 metres although many Olympic historians dispute this claim and maintain that, although he was entered in these events, he did not take part in any race.
During this period in his life, he studied at the Colegio Benedictino located in the Basque Provinces of
France , where he kept his record on the high jump. He was also one of the founding members of the Chilean football team Club de Deportes Santiago Morning and a successful football player.Through 1928 he was ambassador of Chile in Peru, Spain and the Vatican, in addition to being an attendant of Chilean business in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Holland, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia from the consular office in London.
Nowadays to remember his contribution there is a monument in the entrancy of the Chilean Olimpic Museum.
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* Excerpt available at [http://www.aafla.org/6oic/OfficialReports/Mallon/1896.pdf HT-ref (i-xvi)
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