Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired

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. Race judges carefully asses ...

. He specialized in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the

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. He won the gold medal at the

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, 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 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 Nati ...

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 asses ...

) with 1:17:21 in the 20 km. Pérez had fourth-place finishes in the 20 km walk at the

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and the

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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

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s Eugenio Espejo and Gabriela Cevallos. Afterwards he entered the Francisco Febres Cordero

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, 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

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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

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and

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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

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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

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, Bulgaria, in 1990. Two years later, he won the Junior World title in

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, 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

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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

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in 1999, and unprecedented golds at

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in 2003,

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in 2005, and

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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

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, 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 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