Eduar Antonio Villanueva (born 29 December 1984) is a

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 ...

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

. He represented his country at the

2008 Summer 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 Na ...

and

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 ...

and has participated in the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

on three consecutive occasions (2007, 2009, 2011). In 2011 he had the best ever performance by a Venezuelan runner at the World Championships, coming eighth in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

. He set a Venezuelan record of 3:36.96 minutes in the semi-final. In regional competition, Villanueva is a two-time bronze medallist at the

South American Championships in Athletics The South American Championships in Athletics is a biennial athletics event organized by CONSUDATLE. The first edition in 1919 was competed between only two countries (Chile and Uruguay), but it has since expanded and has generally been held every t ...

and has won a gold medal at both the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

and the

Central American and Caribbean Championships The Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships is an international track and field athletics event organised by the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC). Only athletes representing a member nation of the confeder ...

. He was a participant at the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

Running career

Born in

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; guc, Watkisimeeta) is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the fou ...

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los Infa ...

, he won his first international medal at the 2004 South American Under-23 Championships held in his hometown, where he took the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

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 ...

. He ran in the

at the

2005 Bolivarian Games The XV Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'') were a multi-sport event held between 12–21 August 2005 in Armenia and Pereira, Colombia. Some events took place in Cartagena de Indias and in Bogotá. The Games were organized by the ...

and set a personal best of 3:46.32 minutes, finishing in fourth place.Eduardo Villanueva
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2011-09-10. The 2006 season saw him establish himself as a senior athlete. He was third in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

at the 2006 Ibero-American Championships, won his first national title over 1500 m, and represented Venezuela at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. At the Games he ran two personal bests: 1:48.21 min for fifth in the 800 m and 3:44.27 min for fourth in the 1500 m. He came fifth in the 800 m in his senior continental debut at the

2006 South American Championships in Athletics The 2006 in athletics (track and field), 2006 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio La Independencia in Tunja, Colombia from 29 September to 1 October. The competition represented a departure from the traditional bienn ...

. He won two medals at the 2006 South American Under-23 event, winning the 1500 m and coming a close second to Brazil's

Kléberson Davide Kléberson Davide (born 20 July 1985) is a Brazilian track and field athlete who specialises in the 800 metres. Born in Conchal, São Paulo, Davide won his first major youth title in the 800 m at the 2002 South American Youth Championships. ...

in the shorter race. At the

2007 South American Championships in Athletics The 2007 South American Championships in Athletics were held at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Mello in São Paulo, Brazil from 7 June to 9 June 2007. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 by male and 22 by female athletes. Continuing in ...

he won his first medal on the continental stage, securing the bronze medal behind

Byron Piedra Bayron Efrén Piedra Avilés (born August 19, 1982 in Cuenca) is an Ecuadorian middle distance and long-distance runner. He won the 2007 and 2008 editions of the Guayaquil Marathon. He also competed at the 2004 Olympic Games, the 2005 Summe ...

and Leandro de Oliveira. Villanueva was chosen to run for his nation at the

and came sixth in the 1500 m with a personal best of 3:41.74 min and ended the competition by running an 800 m best of 1:48.05 min in the heats of that event. He gained selection for the Venezuelan team 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 ...

held the following month and he improved his 800 m best further by running a time of 1:46.33 min in the heats.. Retrieved on 2011-09-10. In 2008 Villanueva made his global indoor debut at the

2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008. Bid Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, R ...

and also ran at the Olympics for the first time, competing in the heats of the 800 m at the

2008 Beijing Games 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 Na ...

. He was the 800 m

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

list at the

2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships The 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics were held at the Estadio Pedro Grajales in Cali, Colombia between 4–6 July 2008. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 by male and 22 by female athletes. During the ...

, finishing behind Cuba's Andy González. At the

World Military Track and Field Championships The World Military Track & Field Championships are the world championships of athletics organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). Initially an annual competition, the championships have been held on an irregular schedule since ...

in June 2009, he came fourth in the 1500 m. Villanueva won a consecutive 1500 m bronze at the

2009 South American Championships in Athletics The 2009 South American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''2009 Campeonatos Sudamericanos'') was the forty sixth edition of the tournament and was held between 19 and 21 June in Lima, Peru. Brazil dominated the tournament, easily finishing w ...

, but was 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 ...

list in the event at the 2009 CAC Championships. He was selected to run the 800 m 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 ...

(although he had focused on the longer distance regionally) and was eliminated in the first round. Villanueva was runner-up to Spain's

David Bustos David Bustos González (born 25 August 1990) is a Spanish runner who specializes in the 800 metres and 1500 metres races. Personal life Bustos first played hockey and football, and trained in swimming. He took up athletics only in high school, ...

in the 1500 m at the

2010 Ibero-American Championships The 2010 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''XIV Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') was an athletics competition which was held at the Estadio Municipal Bahía Sur in San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain from 4–6 June. A total ...

. He broke José López's 14-year-old Venezuelan record in the 1500 m with a run of 3:38.96 min in

Barakaldo Barakaldo ( es, Baracaldo; eu, Barakaldo ) is a municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country. Located on the Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is part of Greater Bilbao, has a population at 100,881. Barakaldo ha ...

. The 2010 CAC Games saw him beat

Moise Joseph Moise Joseph (born 27 December 1981 in Florida, United States) is a Haitian middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 meters. He competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, placing sixth in his heat and getting eliminated. He competed a ...

to the 800 m gold medal and finish with a silver medal in the 1500 m behind

Juan Luis Barrios Juan Luis Barrios Nieves (born June 24, 1983) is a Mexican runner. He competed in the 5000 m at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and finished seventh-eighth. He placed 14th in the same event at the 2007 and came 18th in the 10,000 metres at the 20 ...

. He focused more on the 1500 m in 2011 and spent much of the season based in Spain with his coach Mariano Gonzalo. Villanueva improved his 1500 m national record to 3:38.29 minutes at a meeting in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in July 2011 and gained selection for 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 ...

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

, South Korea. At the competition, he qualified for the 1500 m final by running a personal best of 3:36.96 min in the semi-finals. In the final he finished in eighth place, which was the best ever performance by a Venezuelan track runner at the world championships (improving upon

William Wuycke William Wuycke (born May 21, 1958) is a former Venezuelan 800m runner, who set a personal best of 1:43.54 minutes at a 1986 meeting in Rieti (the race was won by Steve Cram). This result made Wuycke (as of 2021) the third-fastest South America ...

's run in 1987).Villanueva hace historia y clasifica en la final de 1.500 metros
. La Patilla (2011-09-01). Retrieved on 2011-09-10.

Personal bests

Outdoor *800 m: 1:46.33 min –

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 2. ...

, 30 August 2007 *1500 m: 3:36.96 min –

, 1 September 2011 *3000 m: 8:13.12 min –

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, 22 April 2007 Indoor *800 m: 1:49.75 min –

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, 9 February 2008

Achievements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villanueva, Eduar Living people 1984 births Venezuelan male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Barquisimeto Olympic athletes for Venezuela Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Pan American Games bronze medalists for Venezuela Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Venezuela Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games South American Games gold medalists for Venezuela South American Games silver medalists for Venezuela South American Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 2006 South American Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 20th-century Venezuelan people 21st-century Venezuelan people