06/03/2022   After Jeff still Ecuador on the roof of the world and lives a dream






 

 

 

When in May 1997 Jefferson Perez emerged from the "namesti Tomas Garrigue Masaryka" in first position to go towards the second major victory of his career in the Poebrady World Cup (1:18:24), after the one the year before the Games Atlanta Olympians, some of us thought: this Jeff is no flash in the pan, and the young man is also very pleasant to see.
Since then Jeff, who competed in the 20km, won the World Cup twice again: in 2002 in Turin (1:21:26), in 2004 in Naumburg (1:18:42). He was second behind Francisco Fernandez in the 2006 edition of La Coruna (1:19:08)
 
At Podebrady Jeff was the only Ecuadorian athlete to participate, but already in the 2002 Turin edition, with his three teammates Fausto Quinde, Andres Choco and Xavier Moreno, Ecuador placed fourth, in the ranking at teams behind Russia, Belarus, and Italy.
At La Coruna 2006, Ecuador took 10th place in the men's 20km and 9th place in the 50km and the same places were achieved at Cheboksary 2008.
 
Then came the dark years.
The rebirth was in Rome 2016 where Ecuador obtained its second medal in the history of the World Cup (which since that year had become the Team Marching World Championship). This time it was a bronze in the men's 20km (behind China and Canada), but it was accompanied by a beautiful 4th place in the 50km (behind Italy, Ukraine and Spain).
Ecuador returned to Taicang in 2018 with another fourth place in the 20km behind Japan, Italy and China.
 
Yesterday afternoon, however, in Muscat, Oman, Ecuador’s three musketeers Brian Daniel Pintado (4th), Jordi Rafael Jimenez Arrobo (9th) and David Hurtado (11th) beat the Japan favorite by just one point: 25-26.
A victory obtained on the wire and moreover with the help of a penalty against Declan Tingay (AUS) which allowed Jordi Rafael Jimenez Arrobo to gain those 2 seconds that made him climb to ninth place in the standings.
But anyway: the team competition is also made up of these subtleties.
 
"¡Grandioso! ¡Impresionante! Ecuador gano en estreno de oro mundial" today headline the Ecuadorian newspapers and they have a good reason.
Because March 5, 2022 is a date destined to enter the history of Ecuador as was July 26, 1996, Jeff's golden day in Atlanta.
 
 

 
 
 
When on 8 June 2019 Glenda Estefania Morejon imposed herself in a completely unexpected way in La Coruna on the Cinese fire trio composed of Yang Jiayu, Liu Hong and Qieyang Shenijie, we who were there did not want to believe our eyes, both for the victory (on which no bettor in the World would have bet even 1 dollar) both for the time frame obtained: 1:25:29 which still today is the U20 World Record and the Area Record of the Confederacion Sudamerica de Atletismo.
It seemed like a flash in the pan after Doha 2019 and Sapporo 2021, but also in this case the still 21-year-old Glenda Morejon (she will turn 22 on May 30, 2022) amazed the world.
Li Maocuo (CHN) was the favorite to win in yesterday's 35km, and everything seemed to be on the right path. Towards 17km the Chinese had taken the lead of the race perhaps too early, traveling at speeds of around 4:55 in the 1,000m uphill and 4:33 in the 1,000m downhill of the Muscat undulating course.
Glenda Morejon caught up with her in her 4km, looking at her with the thing in her eye. Another lap and a half with her and then off to a victory, beautiful, very clear, stainless in 2:48:33.
 
But there is more. Next to this young leader an impressive procession of bridesmaids: Paola Pérez (5th in 2:53:58), Magaly Bonilla (6th in 2:54:39), Karla Jaramillo (7th in 2:56:14) and Johana Ordóñez (9th in 2:59:57).
We had never seen winning a World Team Championship with the entire team of five athletes finishing in the top ten.
Congratulations to the athletes and to Julio Chuqui, Glenda Morejon's manager, who had the courageous choice to lead them to this success
 
Probably from up above Luis Chocho, the "Profe" will have rejoiced too.