Gabriela "Gaby" Lourdes Pérez del Solar Cuculiza (born July 10, 1968) is a retired Peruvian

volleyball player This is a list of top international volleyball players. A * Foluke Akinradewo * Carolina Albuquerque * Todor Aleksiev * Ana Ida Alvares * Thiago Soares Alves * Dante Amaral * Andrea Anastasi * Matt Anderson * Stéphane Antiga * Halina Aszki ...

and a politician and former Congresswoman of the Christian People's Party.

Sports career

Perez del Solar began to play volleyball at 14 years old. Her 1.94 m height helped her to become an internationally respected blocker. She ranked in fourth place in the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. She began to show her abilities for the sport in the 1985

FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup The FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. Initially the tournament was played in the year followi ...

in Japan, and at just 17 years old was chosen as the best blocker of the tournament and ranked in fifth place, she also won the gold medal in the 1985

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...

. She won the 1986 FIVB World Championship bronze medal and silver in the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas c ...

. She won the gold medal in the 1987 South American Championship and 1987 Japan Cup, where she was awarded Best Spiker. She was a member of the team that won the silver medal in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

being awarded best receiver. Pérez won the 1988 Top Four bronze medal, 1989 South American Championship gold medal and ranked in fifth place in the 1989 FIVB World Cup. She ranked sixth in the 1990 FIVB World Championship and won the bronze medal in the 1991 Pan American Games, silver in the 1991 South American Championship and fifth place in the 1991 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup. She retired from the Peruvian national team after winning the 1993 South American Championship in

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...

In Italy

After retiring in Peru, Pérez del Solar began playing in Italy. She was invited to become a member of the Italian national team but rejected the offer.

Political life

In 2005, the then-presidential candidate Lourdes Flores Nano invited Perez del Solar to run for Congress and she accepted. In the general elections of 2006, she was elected with the most votes in her district and fifth highest number of votes in the nation. In April 2006, she became a member of the

National Unity Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

, in a ceremony prepared by Xavier Barrón and Lourdes Flores. In the 2011 election, she was re-elected for another five-year term on the ticket of the

Alliance for the Great Change The Alliance for the Great Change—PPK ( es, Alianza por el Gran Cambio – PPK) was an electoral alliance in Peru formed for the 2011 general election to promote the presidential candidacy of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ("PPK"). Constituent Partie ...

to which the Christian People's Party now belongs.

Awards

Individuals

* '' 1985 World Cup "Best Blocker"'' * '' 1986 World Championship "Best Blocker"'' * '' 1988 Olympics "Best Receiver"'' * '' 1991 World Cup "Best Blocker"'' * '' 1993 South American Championship "Best Blocker"''

Clubs

*3 Italian Cups (1990, 1991, 1993)

References

External links

* * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Del Solar, Gabriela 1968 births Living people Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players of Peru Olympic silver medalists for Peru People from Lima Peruvian people of Spanish descent Peruvian people of Italian descent Christian People's Party (Peru) politicians Women members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Peruvian sportsperson-politicians Peruvian women's volleyball players Olympic medalists in volleyball Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics 21st-century Peruvian women politicians 21st-century Peruvian politicians Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Pan American Games silver medalists for Peru Pan American Games bronze medalists for Peru Volleyball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Volleyball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games