ABOUT ME
My sporting achievements
I am considered one of the leading figures in Spanish race walking. I have also been a two-time European champion and a three-time world runner-up. I won the Olympic silver medal in the 20-kilometer race at the 2004 Athens Games.
I was born in Guadix, Granada (05/03/1977) and I started competing at the age of 9 and in 1995 I became the national junior champion of the 10 km, a title that was followed by the gold in the 10 km at the Junior World Championships in Sydney.
In August 1998, I won my first national 20km title in San Sebastián and a bronze medal in the same event at the European Championships in Budapest. Since then, I have established myself as a leading figure in race walking, a key source of medals for Spanish athletics.
After achieving successive national titles, on June 17, 2000 I won bronze in the European Cup in Eisenhttebstadt (Germany), with a national record of 1h:18.56.
In 2002, I set the world record in the 20km race walk in Turku, Finland, with a time of 1:17:22, my personal best up to that point. That same year, I won my fifth consecutive national title in the 20km, followed by victories in 2003, 2004, and 2007.
I won my first continental gold on August 6, 2002 in Munich.
In 2003 I won the European Cup in Cheboksary (Russia) and I won a silver medal at the World Championships in Paris after one of my great rivals, the Ecuadorian Jefferson Pérez, gold in Atlanta'94, silver in Beijing'04 and three-time world champion.
A right foot injury in early 2004 prevented me from participating in the World Cup in Naumburg, Germany. I returned to high-level competition in June with a victory in the GP Marcha Cantones, A Coruña.
Against all odds, on August 20, 2004, I won the silver medal in the 20km race walk in Athens, finishing behind the Italian Ivano Brugnetti. I dedicated the medal to my coach and mentor, Manuel Alcalde, who had passed away shortly before.
In 2005, I paced my training and, after winning several medals in various events, I became the winner at the Mediterranean Games in Almería, and on August 6th, I repeated my silver medal performance at the World Championships. The following year, I added the World Cup title to my list of achievements, a race in which I beat Jefferson Pérez, and the continental title.
I delayed my 2007 training to arrive in peak form for the World Championships in Osaka and skipped the European Cup. However, in the first few months of the year, I twice broke the national indoor 5km record, the last time in Belfast with 18:24, then in June the same distance on the track in Lille (18:27.34), and in August in San Sebastián the 10,000m record (38:07.68). I also won my eighth national title in the 20km road race.
With my hopes set on winning the title in Osaka, I met the Ecuadorian Pérez for the third time on August 26, who relegated me to second place after my requalification.
On May 10, 2008, I managed to retain the gold medal at the World Cup in Cheboksary (Russia) and on July 27, at the Spanish Championships in Tenerife, I set a world record for the 10,000 meters, with 37:53.09.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I finished seventh in the 20km race walk. On September 21st, I won the IAAF World Race Walking Tour final in Murcia, Spain, in Jefferson Pérez's farewell race, supported during the event by thousands of compatriots residing in Spain.
Months later, I announced the change to the 50km for 2009 in preparation for the London 2012 Games, a distance in which I debuted on March 1st with a victory in the Spanish Championship, in San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia).
In January 2013 I ended my sports career as a professional athlete.
Among other accolades, I have been named Spain's best athlete on several occasions and have been included among the world's best athletes. I hold the Medal of Andalusia (2003), the Spanish Olympic Medal (2004), and the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit (2007).
