Luis Alberto García (born September 9, 1980 in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

) is a Venezuelan

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner, who competed in the men's featherweight category. He retrieved a silver medal in the 58-kg division at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and represented his nation

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Garcia emerged himself on Venezuela's sporting fame at the

, where he picked up a silver medal in the men's 58-kg division, losing the final to Mexico's Óscar Salazar. At the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Garcia qualified for the Venezuelan squad in the men's featherweight class (68 kg), by placing third and granting a berth from the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in

Paris, France 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 ...

. Garcia crashed out early in a narrow 5–6 defeat to Brazil's Diogo Silva during his opening match. With his Brazilian opponent losing the quarterfinals to Iranian fighter and eventual Olympic champion

Hadi Saei Hadi Saei ( fa, هادی ساعی, born June 10, 1976) is an Iranian councilor and former taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history and the most titled champion in this sport by winning 9 world class titl ...

, Garcia denied his chance to proceed into the repechage bracket for the Olympic bronze medal.

References

External links

* 1980 births Living people Venezuelan male taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Venezuela Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for Venezuela Sportspeople from Caracas Pan American Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games 21st-century Venezuelan people {{Venezuela-taekwondo-bio-stub