Jefferson Pérez
Pérez in action in 2008
Personal information
Full nameJefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada
NicknameJeffi
Born (1974-07-01) 1 July 1974
Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
Alma materUniversity of Azuay
Height1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
Country Ecuador
SportAthletics
EventRacewalking
Retired21 September 2008 (age 34)
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals1996 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
Medal record
Men’s Racewalking
Representing  Ecuador
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1996 Atlanta20 km walk
Silver medal – second place2008 Beijing20 km walk
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2003 Paris20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2005 Helsinki20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2007 Osaka20 km walk
Silver medal – second place1999 Seville20 km walk
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place1995 Mar del Plata20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2003 Santo Domingo20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2007 Rio de Janeiro20 km walk
Bronze medal – third place1999 Winnepeg20 km walk
South American Games
Gold medal – first place1998 Cuenca20 km walk
Bolivarian Games
Gold medal – first place1993 Cochabamba20 km walk
Gold medal – first place1997 Arequipa20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2001 Ambato20 km walk
Silver medal – second place2005 Armenia20 km walk
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place1992 Seoul10,000 m walk
Bronze medal – third place1990 Plovdiv10,000 m walk
South American Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place1988 Cuenca5 km walk
Gold medal – first place1990 Lima5 km walk

Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired race walker. He specialised in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the Olympic Games.[1]

Early life

Pérez 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.

He graduated in Business Engineering and later obtained a MBA (Master in Business Administration) from the University of Azuay in Ecuador.

Career

Pérez 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 City and London as a sport ambassador.

Initially he participated in distance competitions of six kilometers. Later he had to make a radical decision, which was to dedicate himself completely to race walking. His first regional trophy in the 5 km 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.

Olympic Games

Pérez won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the youngest ever Olympic race walk champion. Following his win he embarked on a 459 km (285 mi) pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca.[2]

He won a silver medal, his second medal, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He had fourth-place finishes in the 20 km walk at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.[3]

Jefferson with the Ecuadorian flag.

World Championships

Pérez won a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships in Seville.

He then won three consecutive gold medals from 2003 to 2007 at the World Championships in Paris, Helsinki, and Osaka, the only person that has been able to achieve this feat.

Pérez's winning time of 1:17:21 in 2003 became the first official world record for the 20 km walk when standards for road events were recognised from 2004 onwards and he received a financial bonus.

Retirement

Pérez 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.[4]

He announced his retirement from the sport in 2008.[5]

Personal bests

EventResultVenueDate
Road walk
10 km38:24 minPoland Kraków8 June 2002
20 km1:17:21 hrsFrance Paris Saint-Denis23 August 2003
50 km3:53:04 hrsGreece Athens27 August 2004
Track walk
10,000 m38:37.6 min (ht)Norway Bergen9 May 1998
20,000 m1:20:54.9 hrs (ht)Colombia Cali5 July 2008

International competitions

Representing  Ecuador
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventResult
1988 South American Youth Championships Cuenca, Ecuador 1st 5 km 24:44.4 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, Peru 1st 5 km 19:49.54
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
Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain — 20 km DNF
South American Junior Championships Lima, Peru 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 A
South American Junior Championships Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela 1st 10,000 m 42:24.2
South American Championships Lima, Peru 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
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, Peru 1st 20 km 1:27:54 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, Peru 1st 20 km 1:30:50
Pan American Race Walking Cup Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico 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 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 A 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[6] 20,000 m 1:20:54.9 A
Olympic Games Beijing, China 2nd 20 km 1:19:15

He appeared on Japanese TV show Hey! Spring of Trivia multiple times - in one episode, he tested how long it actually took to walk to a train station from an apartment advertised as "5 minutes away" (for him, it took under 2 minutes); in another, the show tested whether he would walk or run away when threatened (he ran).

References

  1. ↑ "Jefferson Perez – Reaching for Olympic Gold". Ecuador.com. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "True Olympians"
  3. ↑ Minshull, Phil (15 March 2023). "Perez the pinnacle of 100 years of Ecuadorian athletics". World Athletics. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  4. ↑ "Fernandez and Feitor take Murcia wins; Overall titles for Tallent & Plätzer – Race Walking Challenge Final". IAAF. 21 September 2008. Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2008.
  5. ↑ "Ecuadorian walker Jefferson Perez trains alone for Beijing-2008", Xinhua, 23 April 2008.
  6. ↑ Guest
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