Jefferson’s Time Qualifies Him for the 2008 Olympic Games of Beijing 
CHINA, 26/03/2007. Jefferson Perez of Ecuador qualified for the next Olympic Games at Beijing, China, in the year 2008. At 8:00 am (local time) Friday the 23rd of March, he took part in the 20 km event over a 2,000 meter race course through the streets of Shenzhen clocking a time of 1h21m13s, a time that permits him to be present in the next Olympic Games. From China he said “I’m happy with my time; I’ve realized my first objective, to qualify for the Olympics here. I have a great challenge waiting for me in Osaka and possibly in Beijing.
During the event the temperature was 20 degrees centigrade with a relative humidity of 90%. In the first kilometers the Chinese were at the head of the pack, but later as the minutes passed, the Europeans took command of the pack. Finally it was the Spaniard Francisco Fernandez who crossed the finish line in triumph, followed by a local athlete, and in third place on the winners platform was Eder Sanchez of Mexico. Jefferson had to content himself with sixth place; however, he knew that his most important objective, to set a qualifying time for the Olympics, had been achieved.
With respect to the other Ecuadorian athletes, Andres Chocho and Rolando Saquipay, they unfortunately were unable to achieve the hoped for qualifying time, so that they will have to wait for the 14th of April in Portugal to try to achieve their objective.
The athletes will arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday the 27th at 5:25 am on Continental Airlines from Newark. From there they will fly to their native city of Cuenca to continue training.
The race walkers next competition will be the Grand Prize of Rio Maior in Portugal April 14th.
Top Ten Results
1 Francisco Fernández ESP 1:18:51
2 LI Gaobo CHN 1:19:03
3 Eder Sanchez MEX 1:20:08
4 Lü Ronghua CHN 1:20:16
5 Luke Adams AUS 1:20:30
6 Jefferson Perez ECU 1:21:14
7 Jared Tallent AUS 1:21:25
8 WEI Yang CHN 1:21:26
9 CENG Guoqiang CHN 1:21:36
10 Kim Hyun-Sup KOR 1:21:37
38 Andres Chocho ECU 1:26:57
39 Rolando Saquipay ECU 1:27:15
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