Nine Years After the Historical Exploit of 26 July 1996 
ECUADOR, 27/07/2005. This Tuesday, the 26th of July, commemorates the ninth anniversary of that radiant morning that is a landmark in the history of Ecuador.
He was a young Ecuadorian, slim, short, only 22 years of age, lacking the physical features to call the attention of his rivals, even less to be on the list of favorites to reach the podium in the Olympic Games of Atlanta 96. His name was Jefferson Pérez Quezada, a worker and fighter who arrived in Atlanta to fulfill the dream of a whole country.
Before departing, Jefferson had stated the following: “To beat me, they will have to kill me”, and in this way he somehow predicted what was going to happen the day of the competition, although he never meant in any way to show overconfidence about winning. On the contrary, he did it because of the confidence he had in himself because of the great job done to that point with his coach and great friend Enrique Peña.
And so it was that Friday 26th of July, 1996 at 7:30 am, he was at the starting line on a fresh, sunny morning facing the greatest race walkers of the world: Michelle Didoni, Bernardo Segura, Ilya Markov, among others. All of them were set to give their all to reach the winners” podium, but they didn’t count on the young Ecuadorian ready to leave his life on the race course to exalt the name of his country.
The 20Km race walk started with just one Ecuadorian television channel showing the event, which didn’t receive much attention, although But as the kilometers passed expectancy grew about what was happening, and Ecuadorians started to root at a distance for our credit to maintain the pace. When Jefferson started to position himself among the leaders, the dream began to take form. Little by little the end of the event came close - - no one could believe it: That slim, short and young man was crossing the line that divides dreams from reality, before the incredulity of some spectators. Ecuador obtained for the first time in its history an Olympic medal - - and it wasn’t bronze, nor silver. The medal he obtained was the gold medal, and that achievement made the whole country explode in jubilee, a country which needed to live an experience like this to convince itself that anything was possible.
All activities were completely paralyzed, people shouted, cried, laughed and felt more proud than ever to belong to this land. Never before in the history of Ecuador had an Olympic medal been obtained, much less gold medal. From then on, his achievements surpassed all expectations: Multiple South American Champion, Pan American Champion, Iberoamerican Champion, Five-time World Champion, South American and World Record holder. In addition, he is his recognized both at home and abroad as an example of work, honesty and effort, to the point of being proclaimed Best Sportsman of the Century in the year 1999 in Ecuador. Currently he is even a nominee for the Best Ecuadorian of All-time.
As a homage to all the sportsmen who day after day fight to make their dreams come true, this date has been declare by the National Congress as the “Day of Ecuadorian Sport” In addition, it is hoped that in the near future an 8 meter-tall monument will be placed on the site where Jefferson started his career, The “Parque de la Madre”. His first training ground.
|
