Luis Rodríguez (born 19 August 1966) is a Spanish former sprinter and coach. He competed for Spain at the

1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 3rd IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville, Spain from March 8 to March 10, 1991. It was the first Indoor Championships to include relay races as well as women's triple ...

and at the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

. He coaches his niece, Spanish Olympic sprinter María Isabel Pérez.

Running career

He specialised as a sprinter and competed at an elite level during a career that lasted 16 years. He is one of a few Spaniards who beat Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in a race. He was a member of the Spanish 4 x 100 metres relay team which finished sixth overall in the final of the

Split, Yugoslavia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see other names), is the second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast. The Split metropolitan area is home to a ...

, running alongside

Florencio Gascón Florencio Gascón Álvarez (born 24 January 1964, in Madrid) is a retired Spanish athlete who specialised in sprinting events. He represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics as well as the 1991 World Indoor Championships. Competition r ...

Enrique Talavera Enrique Talavera Rubio (born 15 January 1967 in Algeciras) is a retired Spanish athlete who competed in sprinting events. He represented his country at the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics, as well as three consecutive World Championships. Intern ...

and

José Javier Arqués José Javier Arqués Ferrer (born 16 May 1960) is a retired Spanish athlete who competed in sprinting events. He represented his country at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1984, as well as one outdoor and one indoor World Champio ...

. Rodriguez competed for Spain at the

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

both individually, and as part of the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

. He finished fifth in his heat in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and qualified for the semi-finals. He ran a personal best of 10.27 seconds for the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

in May 1990 in

. His personal best 200 metres time was 20.91 seconds, recorded in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

in July 1992.

Coaching career

He began coaching his niece María Isabel Pérez at a young age. Perez has said she was inspired to start athletics at the age of seven years-old partly through watching her uncle compete. She progressed to compete for Spain at numerous major championships including the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. He remained her coach when she broke the Spanish national record in the 60 metres in 2024 and secured a place to compete at the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Personal life

He is from

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. He is the uncle of Spanish athlete María Isabel Pérez.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Luis 1966 births Living people Spanish male sprinters Olympic coaches for Spain Spanish sports coaches 20th-century Spanish sportsmen