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
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
.
He won the gold medal at the
1996 Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, becoming the oldest-ever silver medal winner in the 20 km walk event. Following his win he embarked on a pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from
Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca. In the
2008 Olympics he won silver in the same event. He announced his retirement from the sport at 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
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. Race judges carefully asse ...
) with 1:17:21 in the 20 km.
Pérez had fourth-place finishes in the 20 km walk at the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
in
Sydney, Australia and the
2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens, Greece.
Early life
Pérez 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
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
, at the same time working to help out his family. Graduated in Business Engineering from University of Azuay in Ecuador. Obtained MBA (Master in Business Administration) from University of Azuay in Ecuador.
Career
Pérez entered race-walking by accident. To prepare for a walk that served as a high school
physical education
Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...
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 City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
as a sport ambassador.
Initially he participated in distance competitions of six kilometers. 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.
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
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, 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
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
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
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
in 1999, and unprecedented golds at
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in 2003,
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
in 2005, and
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
in 2007 for his third straight world title, the only person that has been able to achieve that. 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
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
, Spain. He finished third in that race and second in the overall challenge standings.
Personal bests
International competitions
In popular culture
He appeared on Japanese TV show
Hey! Spring of Trivia
''Hey! Spring of Trivia'' is the name given by Spike TV to the show , a Japanese comedy game show on Fuji TV.
Concept
''Trivia'' consists of a series of video segments that introduce and confirm the validity of unusual trivia. Past trivia has i ...
multiple times - in one episode, he tested how long it actually took to walk to a train station from an apartment advertised as "5 minutes away" (for him, it took under 2 minutes); in another, the show tested whether he would walk or run away when threatened (he ran).
References
External links
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Photos about his technique*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Jefferson
1974 births
Living people
People from Cuenca, Ecuador
Ecuadorian male racewalkers
Olympic athletes of Ecuador
Olympic gold medalists for Ecuador
Olympic silver medalists for Ecuador
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Pan American Games gold medalists for Ecuador
Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games
Goodwill Games medalists in athletics
World Athletics Championships athletes for Ecuador
World Athletics Championships medalists
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
South American Games gold medalists for Ecuador
South American Games medalists in athletics
Competitors at the 1998 South American Games
World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships winners
World Athletics Championships winners
Competitors at the 2001 Summer Universiade
Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games
Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
20th-century Ecuadorian people
21st-century Ecuadorian people