Rolando Vera

Olympic debut Vera made his Olympic debut at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and reached the final of the 10,000 m, finishing in 15th place. He topped the podium in the men's 10,000 m at the 1989 South American Championships in Athletics, winning his first continental title. He doubled up at the 1989 Bolivarian Games and won the 10,000 m as well as taking silver in the 5000 m behind Peru's José Castillo. Vera ran at the Boston Marathon in April 1990 and finished in third place with a personal best time of 2:10:46. A month later he competed in the inaugural Trib 10K race in San Diego and, although still tired from his efforts in Boston, he won the race in an Ecuadorian record time of 28:08 minutes. In 1991, he was the winner of the Philadelphia Distance Run.

His third appearance on the global stage came at the 1992 Summer Olympics and he moved off the track and up to the marathon distance. He finished in 43rd place, although this was the second best performance by a South American after Brazil's Osmiro Silva. He also won a bronze over 10,000 m at the 1992 Ibero-American Championships, repeating his performance of four years earlier. On the circuit that year he also won at the Marvejols-Mende in France.

Los Angeles winner He began 1995 with a win at the San Blas Half Marathon in Puerto Rico, and continued his winning ways at the Los Angeles Marathon where he ran a very tactical race, which was held in poor weather conditions. Vera's outright refusal to take his turn at the front of the leading pack (and thus bear his share of the wind and rain) angered the reigning marathon world champion Mark Plaatjes. After 20 miles, Vera tucked in behind the only remaining leader Bob Kempainen and defied Kempainen's attempts to shake him off – following his zig-zag movements across the road. Finally taking the lead in the final stages, Vera enjoyed a tailwind and won the race in 2:11:39 (twenty seconds ahead of the other runners). Kempainen later commented: "I kept trying to get him out front to take the lead, but I couldn't very well turn around and ask him to do it...I guess he ran it smart".

He also went on to win at the Chuncheon Marathon that year. He enjoyed success over the 20 km distance, winning at the Ogden Newspapers 20K in 1995 and the following year. Vera's final Olympic appearance was at the 1996 Atlanta Games and he was ranked 22nd in the men's Olympic marathon race.

International competitions