Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born July 1, 1974 in Cuenca) is a retired Ecuadorian race walker. He specialized in the 20 km event, in which he has won the only two medals his country has ever achieved in the Olympic Games.
He won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, becoming the youngest-ever gold medal winner in the 20 km walk event. Following his win he embarked on a 459 km pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca.[1] In the 2008 Olympics he won the silver medal in the same competition at 34 years of age, before announcing his retirement from the sport.[2]
In the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France, Pérez also set the world best performance (as there are no world records in race walking) with 1:17:21 in the 20 km.
Pérez had fourth-place finishes in the 20 km walk at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Personal life
Jefferson was born in El Vecino, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cuenca, to Manuel Jesús Pérez and María Lucrecia Quezada. Like others in his neighborhood, his family was of limited economic means. He attended the elementary schools Eugenio Espejo and Gabriela Cevallos. Afterwards he entered the Francisco Febres Cordero high school, at the same time working to help out his family.
The beginnings
Jefferson with the Ecuadorian flag.
He entered race-walking by accident. To prepare for a walk that served as a high school physical education exam, he asked his brother Fabián to train for one week next to the group of athletes directed by trainer Luis Muñoz. Muñoz decided to invite him to compete in a race. With few weeks of preparation he won the race AID, winning the right of representing Ecuador in New York and London as a sport ambassador.
Initially he participated in distance competitions of five kilometres. Later he had to make a radical decision, which was to dedicate himself completely to race walking. His first regional trophy in the 5K walk during the South American Pre-Junior championship held in his native city of Cuenca.
His first international achievement occurred when he won the bronze medal in the Junior World Cup of Athletics in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1990.
Two years later, he won the Junior World title in Seoul, Korea, followed shortly by victories in South American and Pan-American open competitions. His crowning achievement in race-walking came with a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. He won a silver medal, his second medal, at the Beijing Olympic Games.
He also won the silver at the World Championships of Seville in 1999, and unprecedented golds at Paris in 2003, Helsinki in 2005, and Osaka in 2007 for his third straight world title, the only person that has been able to achieve that. In France he broke the world record and he received a financial bonus.
Perez walked his final race at the World Race Walking Challenge final in Murcia, Spain. He finished third in that race and second in the overall challenge standings.[3]
Personal bests
| Event | Result | Venue | Date |
| Road walk |
| 10 km | 38:24 min |  Kraków | 8 Jun 2002 |
| 20 km | 1:17:21 hrs |  Paris Saint-Denis | 23 Aug 2003 |
| 50 km | 3:53:04 hrs |  Athens | 27 Aug 2004 |
| Track walk |
| 10,000 m | 39:50.73 min |  Winnipeg | 15 Jul 1993 |
| 20,000 m | 1:20:54.9 hrs (ht) |  Cali | 5 Jul 2008 |
Achievements
| Year |
Competition |
Venue |
Position |
Event |
Notes |
Representing  Ecuador |
| 1988 |
South American Youth Championships |
Cuenca, Ecuador |
1st |
5 km |
24:44.4 min A |
| 1989 |
South American Junior Championships |
Montevideo, Uruguay |
1st |
10,000 m |
45:03.71 |
| 1990 |
South American Junior Championships |
Bogotá, Colombia |
1st |
10,000 m |
42:57.95 A |
| World Junior Championships |
Plovdiv, Bulgaria |
3rd |
10,000 m |
40:08.23 |
| South American Race Walking Cup (U20) |
Guayaquil, Ecuador |
1st |
10 km |
44:31.9 |
| South American Youth Championships |
Lima, Perú |
1st |
5 km |
19:49.54 min |
| 1991 |
World Indoor Championships |
Sevilla, Spain |
10th |
5000 m |
20:20.05 |
| South American Junior Championships |
Asunción, Paraguay |
1st |
10,000 m |
43:10.1 |
| Pan American Junior Championships |
Kingston, Jamaica |
2nd |
10,000 m |
44:06.11 |
| South American Race Walking Cup (U20) |
Bogotá, Colombia |
1st |
10 km |
42:48.6 A |
| 1992 |
Ibero-American Championships |
Seville, Spain |
3rd |
20 km |
1:25:50.5 hrs |
| Olympic Games |
Barcelona, Spain |
— |
20 km |
DNF |
| South American Junior Championships |
Lima, Perú |
1st |
10,000 m |
45:31.2 |
| World Junior Championships |
Seoul, South Korea |
1st |
10,000 m |
40:42.66 |
| South American Race Walking Cup (U20) |
São Paulo, Brazil |
1st |
10 km |
45:39 |
| 1993 |
Bolivarian Games |
Cochabamba, Bolivia |
1st |
20 km |
1:26:19 hrs A |
| South American Junior Championships |
Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela |
1st |
10,000 m |
42:24.2 |
| South American Championships |
Lima, Perú |
1st |
20 km |
1:24:31 |
| Pan American Junior Championships |
Winnipeg, Canada |
1st |
10,000 m |
39:50.73 |
| 1994 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
Sucre, Bolivia |
1st |
20 km |
1:30:04 A |
| Pan American Race Walking Cup |
Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
3rd |
20 km |
1:24:34 |
| Ibero-American Championships |
Mar del Plata, Argentina |
5th |
20 km |
1:26:08.2 hrs |
| 1995 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
Cuenca, Ecuador |
1st |
20 km |
1:27:46 A |
| Pan American Games |
Mar del Plata, Argentina |
1st |
20 km |
1:22:53 |
| World Championships |
Gothenburg, Sweden |
33rd |
20 km |
1:34:20 |
| 1996 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
São Paulo, Brazil |
1st |
20 km |
1:25:33 |
| Olympic Games |
Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
1st |
20 km |
1:20:07 |
| 1997 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
Bogotá, Colombia |
1st |
20 km |
1:26:19 A |
| World Race Walking Cup |
Poděbrady, Czech Republic |
1st |
20 km |
1:18:24 |
| World Championships |
Athens, Greece |
14th |
20 km |
1:24:46 |
| Bolivarian Games |
Arequipa, Perú |
1st |
20 km |
1:27:54 hrs A |
| 1998 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
Bogotá, Colombia |
1st |
20 km |
1:22:53 A |
| Pan American Race Walking Cup |
Miami, Florida, United States |
— |
50 km |
DNF |
| Goodwill Games |
Uniondale, New York, United States |
3rd |
20,000 m |
1:29:18.4 |
| South American Games |
Cuenca, Ecuador |
1st |
20 km |
1:23:11 A |
| 1999 |
World Race Walking Cup |
Mézidon-Canon, France |
— |
50 km |
DNF |
| Pan American Games |
Winnipeg, Canada |
3rd |
20 km |
1:20:46 |
| World Championships |
Seville, Spain |
2nd |
20 km |
1:24:19 |
| 2000 |
South American Race Walking Cup |
Lima, Perú |
1st |
20 km |
1:30:50 |
| Pan American Race Walking Cup |
Poza Rica, Veracruz, México |
3rd |
20 km |
1:24.36 |
| Olympic Games |
Sydney, Australia |
4th |
20 km |
1:20:18 |
| 2001 |
World Championships |
Edmonton, Canada |
8th |
20 km |
1:22:20 |
| Universiade |
Beijing, China |
5th |
20 km |
1:26:11 |
| Bolivarian Games |
Ambato, Ecuador |
1st |
20 km |
1:30:27 hrs A |
| South American Race Walking Cup |
Cuenca, Ecuador |
1st |
20 km |
1:26:21 A |
| Pan American Race Walking Cup |
2nd |
| South American Race Walking Cup |
1st |
Team |
10 pts |
| Pan American Race Walking Cup |
2nd |
21 pts |
| 2002 |
World Race Walking Cup |
Turin, Italy |
1st |
20 km |
1:21:26 |
| 4th |
Team |
61 pts |
| South American Race Walking Cup |
Puerto Saavedra, Chile |
— |
20 km |
DNF |
| Ibero-American Championships |
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala |
1st |
20,000 m |
1:23:51 A |
| 2003 |
Pan American Race Walking Cup |
Chula Vista, California, United States |
1st |
20 km |
1:23:12 |
| 2nd |
Team |
13 pts |
| Pan American Games |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
1st |
20 km |
1:23:06 |
| World Championships |
Paris Saint-Denis, France |
1st |
20 km |
1:17:21 |
| 2004 |
World Race Walking Cup |
Naumburg, Germany |
1st |
20 km |
1:18:42 |
| 2nd |
Team |
35 pts |
| Olympic Games |
Athens, Greece |
4th |
20 km |
1:20:38 |
| 12th |
50 km |
3:53:04 |
| 2005 |
South American Championships |
Cali, Colombia |
1st |
20 km |
1:22:54 A |
| World Championships |
Helsinki, Finland |
1st |
20 km |
1:18:35 |
| Bolivarian Games |
Armenia, Colombia |
2nd |
20 km |
1:24:22 hrs A |
| 2006 |
South American Race Walking Championships |
Cochabamba, Bolivia |
1st |
20 km |
1:26:27 A |
| 2nd |
Team |
12 pts |
| World Race Walking Cup |
La Coruña, Spain |
2nd |
20 km |
1:19:08 |
| 7th |
Team |
68 pts |
| 2007 |
Pan American Race Walking Cup |
Balneário Camboriú, Brazil |
1st |
20 km |
1:25:08 |
| Pan American Games |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
1st |
20 km |
1:22.08 |
| World Championships |
Osaka, Japan |
1st |
20 km |
1:22:20 |
| 2008 |
Central American and Caribbean Championships |
Cali, Colombia |
1st[4] |
20,000 m |
1:20:54.9 A |
| Olympic Games |
Beijing, China |
2nd |
20 km |
1:19:15 |
References
External links
|
|---|
| | 20 kilometres | |
|---|
| | 50 kilometres | |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
- 1951: 10 km walk
- 1963 – present: 20 km walk
| | |
|
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
.svg.png){kind=icon}
Paquillo Fernández
Vladimir Kanaykin