Jefferson presented notebooks and foodstuffs to 300 children at his former school 
ECUADOR, 01/11/2004. The World Champion visited his primary school. A former student remembered that they called him Leonardo.
Racewalker Jefferson Pérez went back in time 18 years upon visiting the Gabriel Cevallos Garcia School, where he had been a student from second to sixth grade. The purpose of his visit was to distribute gifts of school supplies and foodstuffs to the schoolchildren.
For the 260 students and 20 teachers, preparations for Jefferson’s arrival began two hours earlier. All were correctly uniformed. While the adults prepared the sound system, refreshments and banners, the children, on the other hand, counted the minutes.
One of the children, Marcelo Bacacela, of Sixth Grade A, had waited from the preceding Monday when the visit was first announced.
Jeff arrived punctually at 15h00, wearing blue pants, grey jacket, black shoes and an electric blue T-shirt, with the logo of his sponsors.
Wading through the uproar and applause he entered the school patio along with his brother and sister, Fabian and Patricia.
A banner on the wall with a poster of the athlete said “Welcome champion, the school greets you” Jefferson Pérez took his place there, and after a brief greeting, began to pass out the school supplies and foodstuffs. For the teachers in charge of maintaining order, it was practically an impossible task.
After the materials had been passed out, the atmosphere changed. Students with notebook in hand approached the champion to request his autograph, others, like Christian Guillermo, ran with their cameras to have pictures taken. The racewalker was on the verge of toppling over from the shoves he received in the demonstrations of affection by the students. Pérez was invited by school director Angel Novillo for a toast with the teachers. Novillo read from a record file that indicated Pérez finished Sixth Grade B in 1986. At that moment, Jorge Novillo, a former classmate and son of the director arrived. “Before we knew him as Leonardo”, the former classmate commented. After the ceremony Jefferson watched as the children ran about throwing plastic bottles. “That’s the way I was, restless, doing things I shouldn’t do, but that’s how I formed my character and personality”, he remembered laughing happily.
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Source: El Comercio
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