Diego García Corrales (October 12, 1961 – March 31, 2001) was a long-distance

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, who finished in 9th position (2:14.56) in the men's marathon at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. Four years later, when Atlanta, United States hosted the Games, he ended up in 53rd place, clocking 2:22:11. He was born in

Azkoitia Azkoitia () is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is also the seat of the Municipalities of Spain, municipality of the same name. ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

and died in

Azpeitia Azpeitia (meaning 'down the rock' in Basque language, Basque) is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality within the Provinces of Spain, province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain, located on ...

. García died of

sudden cardiac death Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest ''SCA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly circulate around the body and the blood flow to the brain and other org ...

during a training run at age 39. A statue was erected and the Azkoitia-Azpeitia Half Marathon was renamed to Diego Garcia Memorial in his honor.

Achievements

References

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Spanish Olympic Committee
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1961 births 2001 deaths Spanish male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Spain Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Deaths of competitors in athletics 20th-century Spanish sportsmen {{Spain-athletics-bio-stub