Ernesto Canto

Ernesto Canto ( Ernesto Canto Gudiño ; born October 18, 1959 in Mexico City ) is a former Mexican walker and Olympic champion .

Canto had its first international success at the 1979 IAAF World Race Walking Cup in the 20 km walk with a 6th place. At the same event two years later, he won this discipline. At the World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 he was part of a group of 8 walkers who took the lead from the start. After about 15 km he separated from this group and led to the finish, where he arrived with a lead of 10 seconds. A short time later he also won the Pan American Games in Caracas .

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , he fought a tough race with the last Olympic champion Maurizio Damilano and finished it with the gold medal and a time of 1:23:19 h, ahead of Raúl González (silver) , who also came from Mexico Maurizio Damilano (bronze). Just 11 days later, he started a new 50 km run , which he finished in tenth and won by his compatriot Raúl González.

After that, his luck ran out and his career came to an end. In 1987 at the World Championships in Rome he was disqualified after half of the distance and at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul , with a group of three in the lead, he was also disqualified after 15 km. In 1991 he won silver again at the IAAF World Cup , but at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona he only came in 29th place. A short time later he announced his retirement from Sport. He was trained by Jerzy Hausleber .

Web links

• Ernesto Canto in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Ernesto Canto in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )