Olympics: Ecuadorian Daniel Pintado Wins Gold in Race Walking

Olympics: Ecuadorian Daniel Pintado Wins Gold in Race Walking

“It took 28 years for an Ecuadorian to win another gold medal in the 20-kilometer race walk,” the Ecuadorian Committee recalled.

On Thursday, race walker Daniel Pintado won the gold medal in the 20-kilometer event at the Paris Olympics, making history in Ecuadorian sports.

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He is the fourth Ecuadorian Olympic champion, following the gold medals won by Jefferson Perez (Atlanta 1996), weightlifter Neisi Dajomes (Tokyo 2020), and cyclist Richard Carapaz (Tokyo 2020).

Today, Pintado stood atop the podium, accompanied by Brazilian Caio Bomfim, who won the silver medal, and Spaniard Alvaro Martin, who took the bronze.

“It took 28 years for an Ecuadorian to win another gold medal in the 20-kilometer race walk,” highlighted the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee (COE).

Brian Daniel Pintado es medalla de oro para Ecuador

Lo hemos visto ya 50 veces y en todas se nos hace la piel de gallina y se llenan los ojos de lágrimas pic.twitter.com/RHnmphYAgn

— TERADEPORTES (@Teradeportes) August 1, 2024

The text reads, “Brian Daniel Pintado is a gold medalist for Ecuador. We have seen it 50 times now and each time it gives us goosebumps and tears in our eyes.

Jefferson Perez was at the finish line of the race to embrace Pintado, and they posed together with the Ecuadorian tricolor flag for a historic photo by the Seine River.

The new 29-year-old Ecuadorian champion, Pintado, was born in Cuenca, a city 2,500 meters above sea level that also saw the birth of Jefferson Perez.

Before dedicating himself to race walking, Pintado practiced soccer, swimming, and taekwondo, eventually taking up race walking inspired by his brother, former race walker David Pintado.

At the age of 16, Pintado reached the tenth place at the World Race Walking Cup held in Lille (France) in 2016. He also won gold at the South American Games (Cochabamba 2018), the Pan American Games (Lima 2019), and silver medal at the World Athletics Championships (Budapest 2023).