Daniela Larreal

Early and personal life Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos was born on 2 October 1973 in Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela, the daughter of cyclist Daniel Larreal, who won a silver medal at the 1971 Pan American Games She was also Indigenous. Her mother was called Gladis Teresa. she was already fast on a velodrome track when young and began competing when she was 8, representing the Capital District in the 1986 youth Vuelta de Lara. At one point, Larreal began studying police science but put this aside to focus on cycling. having studied alongside her career. When she moved to the United States, she started a two-year course for the equivalent qualification.

Career

1990s Larreal's first championship was the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games, and won the silver medal in the sprint. Among Venezuelan athletes, others who have competed at five Olympics are Fabiola Ramos (1996 through 2012) and Rubén Limardo (2008 through 2024).

After her debut Olympics in Barcelona, Larreal began training and racing in Spain with a road racing team (as non-Spanish cyclists could not compete on the track) sponsored by Café Fortaleza; she won three golds, six silvers, and eight bronzes there. In 1993, she won two silver medals at the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games, in the sprint and points race. She returned to national competition in 1996, representing Lara and taking gold in the sprint trials. Larreal also had success in the 1996 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, with podium finishes in the stages at Cali and Havana, and an overall placement as world champion in the points race. Her results placed Venezuela 11th of the 328 nations involved. Considered a "top contender" to earn an Olympic medal for Venezuela due to her results, she again had a disappointing Olympic Games in 1996, being eliminated in the same round of the sprint as in 1992 and taking no points in the points race (placing 15th, the highest of the cyclists without points, on ranking). She saw success in more stages of the 1997 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics and, at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games hosted in Maracaibo, set a new flying 200m championship record of 12.13; as the organisers did not use approved electronic timing devices, times set at the event were not recognised. She won the 200m sprint and took silver in the 500m. She picked up her first Olympic diploma in 2000, coming eighth in the sprint. Larreal again won three gold medals in one championship at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games, including defeating main rival Nancy Contreras in the sprint. At the 2004 Olympics she achieved an Olympic diploma. During the classification race for fifth through eighth places of the sprint competition at the 2004 Olympics, Larreal finished behind race winner Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus but was also judged to have cycled within the inner lane and impeded Tsylinskaya. Larreal was disqualified and handed automatic eighth place as bottom of the athletes who made it to the quarterfinals. Larreal said the decision was unjust as she did not enter the lane intentionally but had been forced into it to avoid other cyclists. She also reflected that she was proud to be one of the eight best in the world, especially against cyclists with better resources. She had said at the 2004 Olympics that she would not aim for the 2008 Summer Olympics, that as she was already 30 years old she probably only had a year or two of competitive cycling left. Later in 2010, Larreal won four golds at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. setting a new Pan American record for 200m with a time of 10.995 in the qualification round, and successive new Pan American records (with teammate Mariaesthela Vilera) for team sprint in qualification (33.854) and the final (33.611). At the end of 2011, Larreal was awarded the by the Venezuelan Sports Journalists' Association.

She announced beforehand that she would retire after the 2012 Olympic Games, choosing the Olympics as a stage "to say goodbye to the track." There, she competed in the team and individual sprints, and the keirin, earning two Olympic diplomas. She finished last in her race of the second round of the keirin, not qualifying for the final, and then came third in the classification race for seventh through twelfth places, originally coming ninth overall. with eighth place and the Olympic diploma reallocated to Larreal in 2020. The 2012 Games was the first time the Olympic women's team sprint was contested; Larreal and Vilera won the first heat in a time of 34.320, meaning they briefly and unofficially held the Olympic record in women's team sprint. The pair ultimately placed seventh.

Having retired after the 2012 Olympics, Larreal returned to competing in early 2014 "out of pure love for her country". The results in sprint cycling from other Venezuelans were of a lower standard and she wanted to inspire another generation of track cyclists. In the three women's track cycling events at the 2014 South American Games, Larreal won two golds and a silver. Speaking to Diario Panorama at the time, she called for the removal of corruption in Venezuelan sport as a way of helping athletes improve. In 2001 she had criticized his government for only providing support to athletes at the last minute, after it was most necessary, Larreal first seriously criticized the Venezuelan government in 2012, under Chávez and then-Minister for Sports Héctor Rodríguez, for irregularities in state funding of sports – at this point, specifically accusing them of sponsoring a motor sport athlete who did not exist in order to take foreign currency out of Venezuela. saying Maduro treated the department as a source of petty cash discussing her political affiliation, she said "it's not a secret to anyone that I was chavista, but Chávez is dead". seeking political asylum in the United States. She was still associated with Vente Venezuela at the time of her death, having in August 2024 supported María Corina Machado She later worked at a hotel in Las Vegas,

Death On 12 August 2024, Larreal was declared missing after failing to turn up for work. when she was found dead at her apartment in Las Vegas at the age of 50. though "the cause and method" of her death continued being investigated by the Clark County Medical Examiner,

The 2024 Vuelta a España began on 17 August 2024, with Colombian former cyclist Víctor Hugo Peña presenting the tour for ESPN and giving a tribute to Larreal at its opening. Media in Zulia soon reported plans for national tributes, and that her body would be repatriated, though the process of repatriation would be lengthy. When Larreal had bought the plot for her mother at the in Caracas, she requested to be buried next to her, which her father said after her death that he planned to ensure. Her body had been repatriated by 29 September 2024, and her funeral took place on 2 October, which would have been her birthday, at the in Caracas. before Larreal was interred alongside her mother.

Major results

1990 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games

1992 Pan American Track Championships

1993 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games

1997 Pan American Track Championships

1999

2000 2000 Summer Olympics 8th Individual Sprint 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games

2003 2003 Pan American Games

2003 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics

2010 Central American and Caribbean Games

2011 2011 Pan American Games

2011 Pan American Cycling Championships

2012 2012 Summer Olympics 7th Team Sprint (with Mariaesthela Vilera) 8th Keirin 16th Individual Sprint 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup

2012 Pan American Cycling Championships

2014 2014 South American Games

2014 Pan American Track Championships

2014 Central American and Caribbean Games