JEFFERSON PÉREZ: BIOGRAPHY - ARTE - 2025

Jefferson Pérez is an Ecuadorian born in Cuenca on July 1, 1974. He became known worldwide for the successes obtained as an athlete in the form of athletic walking. In fact, he is currently the only athlete from Ecuador to have been awarded medals at the Olympic Games.

Pérez has obtained two Olympic medals. The first was gold and it was in the Olympic Games held in Atlanta in 1996. The second medal he obtained was silver, and it was in the framework of the Olympic Games that were held in Beijing in 2008. In both meetings he participated in the 20-kilometer athletic walk.

At 34 years of age, in 2008, Jefferson Pérez retires from competition. Before his retirement, he was considered the best running athlete in Ecuadorian history. And he was not only recognized within Ecuador, given that he was also world champion of athletic walking in three years: 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Pérez had a long career, already at 17 he won a competition and obtained his first medal in the city of California, in the United States. During his career he received more than 20 recognitions, including Best Ibero-American Athlete and Golden Athlete, the latter award granted by the South American Athletics Confederation.

Ecuador and the Olympic Games

Ecuador's first participation in the Olympic Games took place in 1924, in Paris, where it did not obtain any medals.

It took 44 years for him to return to participate in the Olympics, appearing in Mexico 1968 with the same previous fate, that is, without obtaining medals.

From there and until 1992, the country participated without fail in the subsequent Olympic Games, but without any of its athletes getting on the podium: Munich 1972, Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992.

Olympic Games Atlanta 1996

The representation of Ecuador in the form of athletic march was in the legs of Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada, who in Atlanta was experiencing his second Olympic participation.

The morning of July 26, 996 changed the life of the athlete and the entire Ecuadorian public, who stopped their breath in unison to accompany each step of Pérez Quezada until they reached the goal obtained in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 7 seconds.

Pérez Quezada achieved a gold medal as an athletic marcher. It was a 20-kilometer march that brought golden Olympic joy to all Ecuadorians for the first time.

Jefferson revealed days later in one of the many interviews he gave to the press that when crossing the finish line one of his shoes was broken. However, this was not an insurmountable obstacle to obtain what he had long dreamed of and thus give joy and pride to his homeland.

Pre Olympic career path

Few people had followed the sporting gait of that boy, although by that time he already had some medals under his belt: at the age of 17 in California, United States; and in Bulgaria, where in 1990 he had obtained the bronze medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships.

It was in 1992 when he obtained the junior world title in Seoul, Korea, giving him the confidence to successfully continue his sports career.

He reveals in an interview that after the Seoul title, the Zhumir Distillery would sponsor him four years in a row. Before that he only had two local sponsorships. Neither the central nor the local government supported him.

Maybe that's why in 1996 he walked the 20 kilometers in Atlanta with his shoes worn. One broke before crossing the finish line. So he got on the podium. In 2003 he won gold at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

That same year, almost in his 30s, Jefferson Pérez became a record holder by reaching the finish line in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 21 seconds.

The headlines of the moment described him as the fastest marcher in the world. That happened at the World Athletics Championships in Paris.

Sports start

Pérez's parents were two humble and hardworking people: Manuel Jesús Pérez and María Lucrecia Quezada.

His sports beginnings were almost random. Jefferson was in his second year at Francisco Febres Cordero School when he was challenged to have to do an endurance race in order to pass Physical Education.

At that time his older brother, Fabián, was training in La Madre Park under the direction of coach Luis Muñoz. Then, Jefferson comes up with the idea of ​​asking Fabian to give him his position for a week to get the proper training and to pass the subject.

In April 1988 he appeared for the first time at La Madre de Azuay Park, and from that moment on this would be the place where Jefferson began to carry out his usual training sessions.

Once Luis Muñoz realized his talent, he encouraged him to continue with other tests and to continue preparing for what the coach saw would be a discipline in which Jefferson could excel.

Within a few weeks, being the winner of the Sport AID race, Jefferson earns the opportunity for the first time to represent his country in the United States and in England as a sports ambassador.

The challenge of joining the march

Olympic walking is a sport that involves moving the body in a certain way so as not to be disqualified.

Because of these strange movements, Jefferson had to consult with his family and his pillow about the proposal that his coach Luis Chocho made to join the group of marchers, where the champions Luisa Nivicela and Miriam Ramón were already participating.

So, receiving family support, Jefferson decided to indulge in this demanding sport, combining his studies with working as a vegetable seller in the market.

Obstacles in the way

Given the high training that high-level athletes have, they are prone to serious physical injuries that can even remove them from the sports career. Jefferson was not without this danger during his career. In 1993 he suffered a clavicle fracture that immobilized him for a time.

In 1999, days before his participation in the World Championship to be held in Spain, a herniated disc was detected.

The latter did not prevent him from participating in the competition, but if he did participate, he could run the risk of increasing the injury with even irreversible damage. Even so, the momentum and the desire to reach the podium of Jefferson lead him to participate.

On that occasion, and despite the pain, he reached second place, proudly displaying the silver medal he had obtained. After that, he had to undergo surgery and a long recovery process that kept him in a wheelchair for a few weeks.

At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Jefferson was perhaps a bit frustrated by the results achieved, as he could not repeat the feat of getting a medal and had to settle for fourth place.

This led him to make the decision to abandon his sports career, at least for a time. He needed to recover not only physically, but also emotionally. During this time he dedicated himself to completing his university studies as a commercial engineer.

Second Olympic medal

During that time he finishes his studies and has time to rethink the decision. In addition, he had received numerous requests from the general public.

After consulting with his family and receiving their support, the athlete decides to return to the march. He already had a philosophy of life: when you begin to believe that the impossible does not exist, that is when you begin to live.

And it is in this way that in 2005 he is world champion in Helsimki, Finland. Two years later he repeats the feat in Osaka, Japan.

Already 34 years old, he returns to some Olympians representing Ecuador. On August 15, 2008, in Beijing, China, she obtained the second Olympic medal for Ecuador, a silver one.

The government, in view of his feat, awards him the award for Best Ecuadorian Athlete. And that same year, after the World Challenge competition in Murcia, Spain, he retired from the sport.

Jefferson Pérez accumulated 11 medals in world and international events. Together with the Polish Robert Korzeniowzki, he shares the honor of being the best walkers in the world.

And in his honor, after 1996, the government signs Ministerial Agreement No. 3401. In this, the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports decrees July 26 as the National Sports Day.

In 2013, the High Performance Plan was created at the governmental level. For the first time, scholarships began to be awarded to athletes and to finance their training.

The retreat of the athletic march

After his retirement from highly competitive sports, Jefferson Pérez continues his master's studies in Business Administration at the University of Azuay. He also decided to found a firm to organize sporting events.

He also creates and chairs the Jefferson Foundation. Its objective: to promote the construction of a fair and balanced society where priority is given to low-income children and adolescents.

He is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Political Science in Salamanca, Spain. In a recent press conference, he pointed out that he may be running for mayor of Cuenca in 2019.

References

1. Constante, Soraya (2016) Jefferson Pérez's broken shoe. El País newspaper. Spain. Recovered in elpais.com
2. Quizhpe, Manuel (2015) Jefferson Pérez is a double Olympic medalist and has 11 medals. El Comercio newspaper. Ecuador. Recovered in elcomercio.com
3. (2017) 21 years of the feat of Jefferson Pérez. El Telégrafo newspaper. Ecuador. Recovered in eltelegrafo.com.ec
4. (2016) Jefferson Pérez, the only Olympic gold medalist from Ecuador in these 95 years of El Universo. El Universo newspaper. Consulted on February 16, 2018 in eluniverso.com
5. Jefferson Pérez. EcuRed. Cuba. Recovered at ecured.cu