Ecuador at the Beijing Olympics
Every four years there is plenty of excitement in countries from around the world as national teams are sent off to participate in the Olympics. This year this grand sporting event is taking place in Beijing, and Ecuador certainly wasn’t about to miss out on their opportunity to present their sporting talent to the world.
Ecuador has taken time to carefully consider who would be best able to represent their country in various sporting disciplines. In the end it selected 25 different Ecuadorian athletes who will be representing their home country in nine different Olympic disciplines. As with most countries, the biggest team is undoubtedly the athletics team. There are eight members in the athletics team: Jefferson Pérez, Rolando Saquipay and Andrés Chocho who will be competing in the men’s 20 km walk; Javier Moreno and Fausto Quinde who will be doing the men’s 50 km walk; Hugo Chila will be in the men’s long jump; Byron Piedra will run the men’s 800 and 1500 meters; Franklin Nazareno will be competing in the men’s 100 and 200 meters; and Franklin Tenorio will be running the men’s marathon. Johanna Ordóñez will be participating in the women’s 20 km walk and Sandra Ruales will be running in the women’s marathon.
Another sport that the country will be participating in will be boxing. Three of the country’s top boxers have been selected for the national team. They are: José Luis Meza (light flyweight), Carlos Góngora (middleweight) and Luis Enrique Porozo (featherweight). Emilio Falla will be wearing his country’s colors in the BMX division of the cycling races, while Yamilé Bahamonde and Marco Camargo will be representing their country in swimming. When it comes to Judo it seems that the women are taking the lead as there is only one man but two women participating in the sporting event from Ecuador. Roberto Ibáñez (-66 kg) will participate in men’s Judo, while Glenda Miranda (-48 kg) and Carmen Chalá (+78 kg) will participate in the women’s Judo.
Carmen Malo will be representing the national team in shooting with her 25 m pistol, while, Lorena Aida Benítez (+67 kg) has qualified to participate in the women’s Taekwondo. Nicolas Lapentti will be participating in men’s singles on behalf of his country. The ninth sporting event that Ecuador will participate in will be weightlifting. Eduardo Guadamud (-94 kg) will be doing his country proud in the men’s division, while Alexandra Escobar (-58 kg) will participate in the women’s division of the weightlifting category.
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing started on August 8 and will continue until August 24. That means there is still plenty of time for these sportsmen to do their country proud. Ecuador has participated in eleven Olympic Games since their first one in 1924 and has since managed to claim one gold medal. The medal was one by Jefferson Perez in the 20km road walk in 1996 and no doubt younger generations will be trying to repeat his success in this year’s Games.
