Cristian Andrés Chocho León (born 4 November 1983) is an

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian

race walker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Referee, Race judges careful ...

who competes in both the 20 km and 50 km walk events. He is the South American record holder in the 50 km (3:49:32 hours) and 20,000 metres (1:20:23.8 hours) walking events. Chocho was the 2011 South American Champion over 20 km and was the bronze medallist at the

2011 Summer Universiade The 2011 Summer Universiade ( zh, c=2011年夏季世界大学生运动会, p=Èr líng yī yī Nián xiàjì shìjiè dàxuéshēng yùndònghuì), the XXVI Summer Universiade ( zh, c=第二十六届夏季世界大学生运动会, p=Dì Èrshíl ...

. His best global level finish is eleventh over 50 km at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. He represented Ecuador at four

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, won a gold medal in 50 km Walk in the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, and is a seven-time participant of the

IAAF World Race Walking Cup The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. Women first entered the 1979 edition. ...

Career

Born in

Cuenca, Ecuador Santa Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca, commonly referred to as Cuenca (Kichwa language, Kichwa: ''Tumipampa'') is the capital and largest city of the Azuay Province of Ecuador. Cuenca is located in the highland (geography), highlands of Ecuador ...

(the same city as 1996 Olympic racewalk champion

Jefferson Pérez Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired race walker. He specialized in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the Olympic Games. He won the gold medal at the 199 ...

), he began racewalking at a young age and made his international debut at 15 years old. He took third in both the youth 10 km at the 1999 South American Racewalking Cup and the 10,000 m walk at the 1999 South American Junior Championships in Athletics. The year after he improved to second at the youth section of the

South American Cup The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

, but was disqualified for lifting at the 2000 South American Junior Championships. In spite of this he was chosen to compete at the

2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Santiago, Chile between 17 and 22 October 2000. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1122 athle ...

held in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

and came 24th. He ended the year with a win over 10,000 m at the 2000 South American Youth Championships in Athletics. The 2001 South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held in conjunction with the 2001 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in October and he won the South American 10,000 m walk title, while finishing second in the Pan American race behind Mexico's Horacio Nava. Later that month he won the 10 km junior road title at the

. In his final year of junior competition he was runner-up to Brazil's Rafael Duarte in the 2002 South American Junior Championships and placed eighteenth in the 10,000 m walk at the

2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Kingston, Jamaica from July 16 to July 21, 2002. Men's Results Women's Results Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, ...

. That year also marked his senior debut at the

2002 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2002 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 12 and 13 October 2002 in the streets of Turin, Italy. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results was given for the IAAF. Complete results were published. Medallist ...

, where he took 34th place in the 20 km walk category, as well as a tenth-place finish at the South American Cup.Chocho Andres
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. Chocho did not compete in major competition in 2003 but returned in 2004 he placed fifth in the South American Cup. He was disqualified at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in both

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. He set a personal best of 1:22:31 hours for the 20 km walk at the Na Rynek Marsz meet in June 2007, but managed only 13th place at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

and was again disqualified at the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

. He came ninth at the 2008 South American Race Walking Cup and managed finishes of 38th and 39th at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

and the

2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 10 and 11 May 2008 in the streets of Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, Chuvashia, Russia. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results was given for the IAAF. Complete result ...

, respectively.Andres Chocho
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. He also improved his best to 1:22:05 hours at that year's Na Rynek Marsz meet. His highlights of 2009 were a twelfth-place finish at the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...

and 39th place at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

. Chocho was disqualified at the 2010 South American Cup, but managed 31st at the

2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup The 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held on 15 and 16 May 2010 in the streets of Chihuahua, Mexico.Congers, New York Congers is a suburban hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Valley Cottage, east of New City, across Lake DeForest, south of Haverstraw, and west of the Huds ...

. The 2011 season saw Chocho reach new heights in his career. He began with a win at the national championships, but failed to finish at the 2011 Pan American Race Walking Cup. He rebounded with a near-personal best of 1:22:18 hours to take eighth at

Rio Maior Rio Maior () is a municipality in the Santarém District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 21,192, in an area of 272.76 km². The present mayor is Isaura Morais of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the first woman to be elected mayor ...

's Grande Premio Internacional en Marcha Atletica. That June he broke the South American record for the 20,000 m walk at the 2011 South American Championships in Athletics, winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in a time of 1:20:23.8 hours. He followed this with a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

performance at the

. Making his championship debut over the distance, Chocho proved himself more adept at the longer distance and took eleventh place at the

with a South American record time of 3:49:32 hours. He ended the year at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, but was disqualified in the 50 km walk event. He competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

but was disqualified just beyond an hour into the 50 km race having been shown three red cards. In 2019, he competed in the men's 20 kilometres walk at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

held in Doha, Qatar. He finished in 18th place. He also competed in the men's 50 kilometres walk. He did not finish his race. Chocho represented Ecuador in the men's 50 kilometres walk at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, finishing 19th with a season best.

Personal life

Andres Chocho is the son of the

olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

trainer, Luis Chocho (born 1957 in Cuenca

, died February 17, 2021, due to the complications for the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

disease to the age of 64 years old). He is married to a Brazilian race walker, Érica de Sena.

Personal bests

Track walk

*10,000 m: 40:29.71 min (ht) – Cuenca, Ecuador, 21 March 2016 *20,000 m: 1:20:23.8 hrs (ht) –

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina, 5 June 2011

Road walk

*20 km: 1:20:07 hrs –

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, 7 May 2016 *50 km: 3:42:57 hrs NR–

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( ; ''Juarez City''. ) is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is commonly referred to as Juárez and was known as El Paso del Norte (''The Pass of the North'') until 1888. Juárez is the seat of the Ju� ...

, Mexico, 6 March 2016

International competitions

References

External links