Athletics athletes compete in 8 Olympics

The Spanish Athletics Federation has included Jesus Angel Garcia in the list of athletes participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, even though he is 51 years old. This means that Jesus Angel Garcia will hold the record for the number of appearances at the biggest sports festival on the planet.

Born in 1969, Jesus Angel Garcia will turn 52 years old in October. He is considered the legend of the world athletics village, the content of walking 50km. He always maintained the form to be present in the previous 7 Olympics. The upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July, is a new milestone in his career.

Garcia’s first time at the Olympics was at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at home. Garcia placed 10th in the men’s 50km walk. Before being selected to participate in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19), Garcia temporarily tied for the same place with runner Merlene Ottey, who played for Jamaica and then Slovenia in the previous 7 Olympics. However, Ottey is 61 years old and announced his retirement, not participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Throughout his career, Garcia won the world gold medal in 1993 (held in Stuttgart, Germany), the men’s 50km walking distance with a record of 3 hours 41 minutes 41 seconds. The highest ranking of the Spaniards at the Olympics was 4th in Beijing 2008 with a parameter of 3 hours 44 minutes 08 seconds.

At the last two Olympics, Garcia ranked 19th and 20th in London 2012 and Rio 2016 with a record of 3 hours 48 minutes 32 seconds and 3 hours 54 minutes 29 seconds. The 2019 World Championships in Athletics in Doha (Qatar) is the most recent major tournament that Garcia attended. He ranked 8th with a time of 4 hours 11 minutes 28 seconds.

Thanh Duong (according to the Worldathletics)