Jefferson Perez

Jefferson Perez
Jefferson Pérez (2008)
Full name	Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada
nation	Ecuador
birthday	July 1, 1974
place of birth	Cuenca
size	167 cm
Weight	60 kg
Career
discipline	Go
Best performance	3:53:04 h (50 km walking)
society	Federación Deportiva del Azuay
status	resigned
End of career	2008
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 1 × 0 × World championships 3 × 1 × 0 × Pan American Games 3 × 0 × 0 × Junior World Championship 0 × 0 × 1 ×
Olympic games gold Atlanta 1996 20 km walking silver Beijing 2008 20 km walking World championships silver Tokyo 1999 20 km walking gold Paris 2003 20 km walking gold Helsinki 2005 20 km walking gold Osaka 2007 20 km walking Pan American Games gold Mar del Plata 1995 20 km walking gold Santo Domingo 2003 20 km walking gold Rio de Janeiro 2007 20 km walking Junior World Championships bronze Plovdiv 1990 10 km walking

Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born July 1, 1974 in Cuenca ) is a former Ecuadorian walker . He is an Olympic champion and three-time world champion.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta he won the gold medal in the 20 km walk ahead of Ilja Markow (RUS) and Bernardo Segura (MEX). He became the first and so far only Olympic champion in the history of Ecuador. The celebrated national hero then covered the 459 km from Quito to Cuenca on foot. At the Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004, he finished fourth over 20 km. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, he was second over 20 km and won the silver medal. At the 2004 Games, he also competed over 50 km and was twelfth.

Pérez won the silver medal in the 20 km walk at the 1999 World Championships in Seville , behind Ilja Markow and ahead of Daniel García (MEX). He won the gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in Paris / Saint-Denis . He repeated this success at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki and two years later at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka .

He was also third at the 1990 World Youth Championships and 1992 World Youth Championships, each over the 10,000 meter distance. He won the World Cup in 1997 and 2004 over 20 km. At the 2006 World Cup in A Coruña , he finished second. He also won numerous national championships and competitions at Bolivarian and Pan-American Games as well as South and Ibero American championships.

Jefferson Pérez is 1.67 m tall and has a competition weight of 60 kg.

In a vote for the best Ecuadorian by the TV channel Ecuavisa (in the style of the TV format Our Best ), Pérez took second place behind Eloy Alfaro in November 2005 .

In November 2009, the true story of the Olympic champion's childhood was published as a book under the title Nardo y los zapatitos de oro (the German edition published in November 2011 under the title Nardo and the golden shoes by Amiguitos - Languages ​​for Children ) - written down by the journalist Sandra López , who supports the Jefferson Pérez Foundation with part of the proceeds. So far tens of thousands of books have been sold in Ecuador alone.

Personal bests

• 5000 m walking: 18:46.08 min, May 5, 2007, Xalapa
• 10,000 m walking: 39: 50.73 min, July 15, 1993, Winnipeg
• 10 km walking: 38:24 min, June 8, 2002, Krakow
• 20,000 m walking: 1: 20: 54.9 h, July 5, 2008, Cali
• 20 km walking: 1:17:21 h, 23 August 2003, Paris
• 50 km walking : 3:53:04 h, August 27, 2004, Athens
• 1 hour walking: - 14,510 m, May 6, 2000, Bergen

See also: Ecuadorian National Athletics Records

Web links

Commons : Jefferson Pérez  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Jefferson Pérez (Spanish / English)
• Jefferson Pérez in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Jefferson Pérez in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait at IAAF - Focus on Athletes ( Memento from July 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), August 28, 2007
• Official website of the Jefferson Pérez Foundation