An American in Lima

 She adds: “A special greeting to all Peruvians, especially those in the sierra.”

 Source: RPP Noticias, Aug. 18, 2008, “María Portilla: Me emociona haber puesto todo de mi parte en Beijing” (translation, Barbara Drake)

A July 31 story by Reuters reporter Maria Luisa Palomino provides a more detailed look at Portilla’s journey from the Andes to the Olympic track: [Read more →]

Blood-red sap oozes from freshly broken tree limb, Miraflores; photo by Jorge Vera

Aug. 19, 2008, Lima: More neighborhood destruction to report, resulting from poorly rerouted traffic from Av. Republica Panama (the old Pan-Americana Highway) into our neighborhood. A beautiful old tree was murdered by a reckless Lima truck driver, who had to get from Point A to Point B in as little time as possible –  no matter that his vehicle couldn’t fit on our tiny streets.

And no police or guards stopped him from making an improper detour.

A 32-foot-long trailer bearing a shipping container detoured off busy Rep. Panama into the old family neighborhood of San Antonio, Lima, at approximately 3 p.m., Saturday, August 16. The oversized Ausa truck barrelled down the first block of Calle F. de Paula Ugarriza, heedless that its cargo container was larger and wider than the growth of old trees shading the street.

The truck plowed into the left side of a 40-foot-high tree at #637, tearing off its main limb and felling huge branches onto parked cars. Power and cable lines also were downed.

Shocked residents ran into the street shouting for the truck to stop. The driver came to a halt at Parque Leoncio Prado, where he was apprehended by security guards, then police, and taken to police headquarters for four hours of questioning.

Tree hit by semi-truck in Miraflores, August 2008

Initial reports indicate that the truck driver lacked a license to drive the truck.

El Fotografo and I saw the police lights flashing on Ugarriza and went to investigate.

EF was shocked when he saw the bashed tree; it had been there since he was a kid, he said. In Lima, a desert city that receives no rain, trees that tall are rare.

“Esta muerto! Esta muerto!” a distraught neighbor in her 60s said. 

The driver should be charged with tree homicide, I said to EF.

Semi truck with sea crate after accident, Miraflores, Lima

I walked up to the tree to see the damage up close. The exposed wood where the huge limb had been sheared off was weeping sap — a crimson liquid that looked like blood.  The red sap welled up, drop by drop.

The tree’s wound looked so human, it hurt to look at it.

The inept bureaucrats who are overseeing this chaotic road “improvements” in this city need to wake up to the damage they’re causing, I thought. I should write the mayor of Miraflores a letter.

Mayor Masias: In April you promised to bring safety and order to the process of improving the city’s streets. You promised to do better than did your predecessor, the mayor of Lima.

Is this senseless destruction your idea of making Miraflores a better place?

Peru Summer Olympic Delegation 2008 1

The first week (August 10 - 16) of competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympics saw some encouraging efforts by Peruvian athletes but no medals. Here is a roundup of how Peru’s 13-member Olympic delegation has performed so far, along with buzz about the athletes from English-speaking media, bloggers and fans. (Plus blog reactions by Peru athletes like Peter Lopez, who posted the photo above on his Olympic blog “Camino a la Gloria” (Road to Glory) on Monday, Aug. 11.)

SIXTO BARRERA / WRESTLING 

Wrestler Sixto Barrera, considered by many to be Peru’s best chance for a medal, got off to a strong start on Tuesday (Aug. 12), when he trounced the world’s third-ranked Valdemaras Venckaitis of Lithuania, 3-1, in the first round of Men’s Greco-Roman 74 k. That victory propelled him to the quarter finals against China’s Chang Yongxiang, who turned the tables on Barrera, beating him 3-1. Barrera told RPP reporters in Beijing that his elbow was badly hurt in the match when Chang applied an “improper hold.” Injured and in pain, Barrera suffered a total defeat to Bulgaria’s Yavor Yanakiev in the Round 2 Repechage (score: 3-0).

Yanakiev, the 2007 world champion, went on to win the Olympic bronze medal on Wedesday (Aug. 13), Chang won the silver. Georgia’s Manuchar Kvirkelia won his country’s first wrestling gold.

BUZZ ABOUT BARRERA

Sixto Barrera drew cheers from fans in Bird’s Nest Stadium and Peruvian viewers around the world when he carried Peru’s flag in the opening ceremonies on Saturday (Aug. 9). Barrera told reporters that the experience was “a dream come true.”

Barrera’s life story drew attention from reporters and bloggers in Peru and the United States. Blogger CarlosQC from Washington, DC (who also scribes as Peruanista) highlighted Barrera’s challenges as an Afro-Peruvian confronting racism and lack of support in his native country. An American in Lima explored the wrestler’s spiritual faith and admiration for San Martin de Porres, the first black saint of the Americas.

CLAUDIA RIVERO / BADMINTON

 Claudia Rivero, Peru’s top-ranked badminton player, lost in Women’s Singles to France’s Pi Hongyan 2 - 0 (21-6 and 21-6), on Sunday (Aug. 10). That defeat made Rivero ineligible for further competition at the Games.

Gold and Silver in Women’s Singles Badminton went to Zhang Ning and Zie Xingfang, both of China; Maria Kristin Yulianti, of Indonesia, won the Bronze on Saturday, August 16.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ….

The 21-year-old Rivero trained for the games in Germany, thanks to an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship sponsored by the Badminton World Federation.

Rivero blogged for CNN about her preparations for the Olympics (See Athlete’s Blog: Claudia Rivero).

Male admirers confessed to “falling in love” with Rivero on the Discussion Board at BadmintonCentral.com.

VALERIA SILVA / SWIMMING

Swimmer Valeria Silva finished 38th in the preliminaries of the 100-meter breaststroke with a personal-best time of 1:11.64 but did not advance.

Australia’s Leisel Jones won the gold in women’s 100-meter breaststroke on Tuesday, August 12. Rebecca Soni (USA) and Mirna Jukic (Austria) won silver and bronze, respectively.

BUZZ ABOUT SILVA

A senior at University of Michigan, Silva competes for the UMich swim team along with Olympic god (we can call him that now) Michael Phelps.

Silva’s academic major is Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science. She attended Lima’s Humbolt school.

EMMANUEL JOSE CRESCIMBENI / SWIMMING

Eighteen-year-old swimmer Emmanuel José Crescimbeni finished 41^st in the preliminaries of the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:02:13 but did not advance.

Gold in the men’s 200-meter butterfly went to Michael Phelps (USA), Silver to Laszlo Cseh (Hungary) and Bronze to Takeshi Matsuda (Japan), on Wednesday, August 13.

BUZZ ON EMMAN

Crescimbeni, known as “Emman” to his friends, attends Calvary Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has dual U.S./Peruvian citizenship. His parents are from Callao. He will attend the University of Florida next year.

An in-depth profile of “the fastest swimmer you’ve never heard of” (to quote Crescimbeni’s coach) ran in the Oct. 27, 2007, St. Petersburg Times (”Looking Back, Swimmer’s Talent Couldn’t Be Ignored“).

MARIA LUISA DOIG / FENCING

In Women’s Individual Foil fencer Maria Luisa Doig crossed swords last Sunday (Aug. 10) with Germany’s Katja Waechter, who beat her 4-15.

Italians Maria Valentina Vezzali and Margherita Granbassi won Gold and Bronze, respectively. Korea’s Nam Hyunhee took the Silver.

MORE ABOUT DOIG

At 16 years old, Doig is Peru’s youngest delegate to the Beijing games.

 A widely publicized APF/Getty photo of Doig reacting to her loss against Waechter ran in USA Today and countless online sites.

PALOMA SCHMIDT / SAILING

Hard-working sailor Paloma Schmidt, who represents Peru in Laser Radial – One-person Dinghy, has competed in five races since Tuesday, August 12, and is schedule to sail in an additional five races on Sunday, August 17 and Monday, August 18, before the medal-winners are decided. Schmidt ranked No. 9 after her first race, then fell to 28 in race 4, before climbing to No. 14 in her latest race.

Schmidt’s individual race rankings are: 9 (Race 1), 26 (Race 2), 27 (Race 3), 28 (Race 4) and 14 (Race 5).

The Olympics’ sailing events take place in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.

BIRD BUZZ

Schmidt trains at Yacht Club Peruano, in La Punta, Callao, notes her sailor bio on ISAF. Her nickname is “Bird,” in reference to her first name, which means “dove” in Spanish.

Visit Schmidt’s personal blog “Sailor Bird” (written in Spanish) to read about her preparations for the Olympics.

CARLOS ZEGARRA / JUDO

The “Peruvian giant” Carlos Zegarra competed in Men’s Judo +100 kg on Friday, August 15, in USTB Gymnasium. Zegarra beat Argentina’s Sandro Lopez in the 2:17 min. preliminary bout with a side four-corner hold. Less than an hour later, he lost to Cuba’s Oscar Brayson and then to Lebanon’s Rudy Hachache in Repechage, thus ending his chances for a medal.

Medallists in Men’s Judo +100 kg were Satoshi Ishii of Japan (Gold), Abdullo Tangriev of Uzbekistan (Silver) and Oscar Brayson of Cuba and Teddy Riner of France (sharing Bronze).

ZEGARRA FACTOIDS

• Height: 6′8″ tall
• Weight: 352 pounds
• Occupation: Security guard
• Favorite food: fried calamari
• Nickname: Chiquito

MARCO MATELLINI / SHOOTING

Skeet shooter Marco Matellini got off to a disappointing start on Friday, August 15, finishing last in a field of 41 competitors. He moved up one notch to 40^th place on Saturday, August 16.

PERUVIANS DO KNOW HOW TO SHOOT

A photo of Matellini blowing into the barrel of his gun was featured in USA Today.

Shooting is the one sport in which Peru has won Olympic gold. Peruvian Edward Vasquez Cam won the gold in Men’s Free Pistol in 1946. More recently, Peru won silver medals in Trap Shooting (Francisco Boza, 1984) and Skeet Shooting (Juan Giha, 1992).

CRISTINA CORNEJO / WEIGHTLIFTING

Cornejo competes in Olympics +75 kg 1

Peru’s powerful 22-year-old female weightlifter Cristina Cornejo went up against the big girls Saturday, August 16, in the +75 kg category. Cornejo finished 10^th, tied with Eva Dimas of El Salvador. Cornejo lifted 97 kg in the Snatch, compared to first-place winner Jang Miran of Korea, who set new Olympic and World records with her 140-kg hoist that night. In the Clean & Jerk, Cornejo lifted 128 kg, nearly 60 kg below Miran’s Olympic and World record-breaking lifts of 183 kg. and 186 kg.

Cornejo took part in what will be remembered as a historic night in women’s weightlifting.

In Women’s 75+ kg. Weightlifting, Miran took home the Gold for Korea, Olha Korobka took Silver for the Ukraine, and Mariya Grabovetskaya won Bronze for Kazakhstan.

THE CAMERA LOVES YOU, CRISTINA!

I love these APF/Getty images of Cornejo at Saturday’s competition. This girl is mighty, mighty!

Cristina Cornejo reacts after failing a lift in Beijing Olympics

LOUIS TRISTAN / LONG JUMP

In the Men’s Long Jump qualifying round, held Saturday, August 16, 24-year-old Peruvian jumper Louis Tristan finished 32^nd out of 38 with a leap of 7.62 meters. That distance failed to qualify Tristan for the Long Jump final round.

THE BUZZ

Tristan was born in Lima and now lives and trains in Brazil. In a recent interview with Peruanista, he mentioned his frustration with the lack of support given to him, and other top athletes, by the Peruvian government and national sports federation.

MARIA PORTILLA / RUNNING

Runner Maria Portilla will compete in the Women’s Marathon this Sunday, August 17, at 7:30 p.m., in National Stadium.

Portilla will battle a strong field that includes world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya and Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, who is the world record holder. Radcliffe joined the British team at the last minute before the Games, after having recovered from a stress fracture.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT PORTILLA

Born and raised in Peru’s high Andes, 36-year-old Portilla began running in marathons eleven years ago, when she was in danger of failing a physical education exam for a teaching degree she was seeking. Her athletic abilities exceeded everyone’s expectations, particularly since she ran her first races barefoot.

“I didn’t have money for trainers [athletic shoes],” she told a reporter for Reuters. “I ran in my bare feet. People started giving me trainers; that gave me the inspiration to continue,” she says.

Click here for Reuters’ one-minute video interview with Peru’s “unlikely marathoner.”

PETER LOPEZ / TAEKWONDO

Medal hopes are riding on Peter López, who competes Thursday, August 21, in preliminaries for Men’s Taekwondo 68 kg (featherweight).

MUCHO BUZZ ABOUT LOPEZ

Taekwondo insiders are eagerly anticipating a possible match-up between Peru’s Peter López and USA’s Mark López, who have trained with the same coaches.

López is the American-born son of Peruvian parents, who raised him in Peru and the United States. Since the year 2000, he has trained at the prestigious Elite Tae Kwon Do club, in Houston, Texas, alongside world and Olympic champions. He is a six-time U.S. National Team member and a 4-time competing member for the Peruvian Taekwondo Federation. He is the first taekwondo athlete ever to represent Peru in the Olympics.

According to one report, López receives US$2,000 per month for training from the Peru Taekwondo Federation. This contrasts with the situation of other members of the Peru Olympics delegation, who receive little to no support from their respective sports organizations in Peru (if such institutions exist at all).

López blogs on his Olympic experience for Lenovo’s “Voices of the Olympics” blog. Click here for Peter’s own photos of his fellow Olympians doing everyday stuff in Beijing, like eating in the Olympic cafeteria, working out in the gym and getting a haircut.

Click here for a short BBC article on López (”Peter Lopez: Going for the Gold”) that includes a photo diary of his journey to the Olympics.

August 15, 2007:  It had been little more than a month since El Fotografo, El Hijo and I had packed up the contents of our 4-bedroom house in Florida, stuffed it all in a shipping container bound for Callao, and hopped on a plane to EF’s hometown of Lima.

Everything in Peru’s capital was new and strange to El Hijo and I, then – and to EF as well, since he hadn’t lived in Peru for 25 years. The food, the climate, the traffic, the language — just stepping out of the front door each morning was an adventure, not always an easy one.

For several weeks we had been staying in a friend’s second-floor apartment in Miraflores, right across from the Church of Our Lady of Carmel. Each morning we’d watch the school children in their brown Carmelitas uniforms file into the round door across the street, their mothers and nannies waving to them from the curb.  We could hear the children’s shouts from the school gymnasium as we ate lunch in our tiny living room/dining room.

Below our friend’s apartment is a corner bodega, where all day long customers stop in to buy snacks, sodas, cigarettes, and to gossip.

The store’s candies are behind glass, and you have to ask the cashier for them. It was around this time that EH became motivated to learn Spanish. “Una Kindersupresa, por favor?”

On Wednesday, August 15, at around 6:30 p.m., El Hijo and I were sitting on his bed, playing a game with a stuffed Scottie dog we’d bought at Wong. El Fotografo was in the other bedroom, typing up a presentation for a job interview with the UN in Peru. He had applied for a job in disaster planning, a career path he’d pursued in the United States during the 1980s and ’90s.

Just as EF was typing the word “earthquake” (yes), the walls of the apartment began to shake.

First I heard glass rattling. ’That’s weird,’ I thought.

Then I became aware that the bed was shaking, too – the floor was shaking. It was a bad rattling sound.

“Earthquake!” EF shouted. “Run downstairs.”

EH grabbed all the stuffed animals he had brought from the U.S., and we ran down the narrow hall stairway to the street below, with EF behind us. An older man and his grandson, who were living in the apartment across from us, stood hesitantly on the upstairs mezzanine, confused.

“Come down!” EF shouted.

They followed, dazedly.

The little boy was clutching a red plastic dinosaur.

The walls were shaking all around us.

Outside in the street the streetlights were on; cars had stopped in mid-traffic across from the Carmelitas church.  Against the black sky, a strange orange haze haloed the tops of buildings and trees.

We stood in the middle of the street, in our stockinged feet, and felt the asphalt road ripple under us in long waves. We had forgotten to put on shoes. El Hijo held my hand tightly. He wasn’t crying.

“What’s happening?” he asked. His teeth were chattering.

“Just stay calm,” said EF, a veteran of the 1970 Peru earthquake, which killed 70,000 people. ”It will be over with soon.”

It kept going.

I waited for windows and buildings to fall but they didn’t. Some women were on their knees on the sidewalk, praying, “Dios!” The world undulated.

Then it stopped.

For four days after the 8.0 earthquake, we kept getting tremors in Lima.

“Welcome to Peru,” El Fotografo said.

We learned that Pisco and Chincha and other towns in southern Peru had been devastated by the quake. About 40,000 buildings had been destroyed. More than 600 people were dead.  

We, on Peru’s central coast, had been lucky.

One year after the disaster, much of south Peru still lies in ruins. Many people still live in temporary housing. Reconstruction is proceeding very slowly, with some fingers pointing at President Alan Garcia, others at corrupt local politicians.

Update 8/16/08: Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets on the one-year-anniversary of the quake, to protest the government’s inadequate response to the disaster.

In Chincha banners carried by protests “called for President Alan Garcia to tell the truth about where the $382m supposedly spent on the reconstruction had gone, and why so many people had still not received compensation to rebuild their homes,” reports the BBC.

“At this rate, reconstruction will last 10 years and a generation of our citizens, of our children, will be raised in inequality because they live in huts and have nowhere to study,” said the governor of Ica province, Romulo Triveno.

[Note that the governor blames Garcia's administration, while Garcia blames Triveno's buddies for the slow rate of reconstruction. Echoes of the post-Katrina blame game, to this American expat's ears.]

For various perspectives on Peru’s Earthquake, One Year Later, visit:

BBC Online, “Thousands Join Peru Quake Protest” (Aug. 15, 2008)

The Economist, “Lessons from an Earthquake” (Aug. 14, 2008)

Andina, “Peru & APEC Flags Fly at Half Mast for Earthquake Victims” (Aug. 15, 2008)

Reuters, “Peruvians Protest, Mourn on Anniversary of Quake” (Aug. 15, 2008)

Want to be part of the solution? Help Peru rebuilt by donating funds or your time to an ongoing relief effort:

Idealist.org, “Volunteer Opportunities in Pisco/Peru Earthquake Relief” (Aug. 15, 2008)

Online Fundraising Blog, “Irish-Peruvian Fusion Raises Funds for Peru Earthquake Victims” (Aug. 15, 2008)

The Three Jacks, “The Three Jacks Peru Tour” (Aug. 10, 2008) — contribute to funding for medical centers in Pisco and Chincha

So delicious, with a kick of yellow ají: ceviche at Pescados Capitales

The hip cevicheria Pescados Capitales, one of Lima’s finest seafood restaurants, plays on the Beijing Summer Olympics theme in its current “Pescados Olímpicos” (Olympic Sins) menu.

(When you remove the first “s” from “pescados,” the Spanish word for fish, it becomes “pecados” or sins. Thus the dual meaning of the restaurant’s name: Capital Fish or Capital Sins.)

Featured dishes this week include “Tiro olímpico” (Olympic Shooting, 30 soles), a causa made of lenguado, tuna and shrimp; “Ciclismo” (Cycling, 31 soles), salmon rolls with perch and brandied vegetables; and “Natación” (lobster “swimming” in risotto, market price).

Those with a reformist bent might try “Antidoping” (37 soles), tuna seared in demi-glace sauce with quail. “Zero tolerance doesn’t seem to work,” the menu comments (whether about diners being able to resist this dish or Olympic athletes refraining from doping, it’s hard to say).

 Restaurant owner Nguyen Chávez creates a special weekly menu based on Peruvian politics and controversies. The introduction to this week’s Olympic Sins menu gives a taste of Chávez’s satiric bite (my translation):

“The Olympic spirit has arrived; let’s see who has already won his medal.

“In Obstacle Race: Peru’s Minister of the Interior (he raffled everything to remain in office)

“In Throwing the Javelin, Hammer, Shot and Discus: Congress (that’s all they do).

“Marathon: This is what the earthquake victims keep running one year after the tragedy [August 15].

“We announce that the president [Alan García] hasn’t scored the minimum marks, according to polls. The race has not ended yet, but the public has been accused unjustly of being ‘unjust.’

” ‘Doping! Doping!’ is heard in the bleachers. Alas, many medals are still up for grabs.”

Aside from looking for an excuse to poke fun at Peruvian politics, Chávez seized on the Olympic theme for this week’s menu because he’s a fan of badminton, a sport that Peruvian athlete Claudia Rivero competed in early in the Beijing Games without making it to the finals.

“Yes, I was sorry to see her lose,” he tells An American in Lima. “And [wrestler] Sixto Barrera, too. They say he was Peru’s best hope for a medal.”

The owner of Pescados Capitales looks forward to seeing Peru’s Peter López compete in taekwondo next Thursday, August 21. “I think he could win a medal. We’ll see.”

Chávez deplores Peru’s lack of support for its Olympic competitors. “The government does nothing for the athletes,” he says. “It’s not just about Peru having little money. Look at Cuba, a really poor country, look at Venezuela: They support their athletes. Why not Peru?”

He notes that Peru also refuses to give monetary support to its own chess superstar, 17-year-old Emilio Córdoba, who recently won the coveted title of International Grandmaster: “Córdoba had to pay his own way to go to the International Championship. It’s not right.”

“Peru needs to stand behind its chess players and it athletes,” says Chávez. “They deserve it, no?”

I nod in agreement and dig into my plate of “Paciencia: Cevíche Ghandi” (30 soles), a heavenly dish of raw fish and seafood marinated in lime juice and curry, with slices of mango and mandarin orange.

It was worth the ½-hour lunchtime wait.

One does need a saint’s patience to put up with Peruvian politics, as well as with “making a cola” for a table at one of Lima’s hottest restaurants.

 Visit Pescados Capitales at Av. La Mar 1337, Miraflores, Lima, Peru.

(511) 421-8808

On the web at www.pescados-capitales.com/

Photo of ceviche by www.thousandflavors.com

The Republic of Nauru, the world's smallest island nation at 8.1 sq. miles, in the South Pacific, is represented in the Beijing Olympics by weighlifter Itte Detanamo

I was feeling rather forlorn about Peru’s small Olympic delegation of 13 athletes. Then I stumbled upon Mashable’s “18 Smaller Olympic Countries to Root For.”

Sean P. Aune writes:

It’s easy to get wrapped up in all of the big name countries that go to the Olympics, such as the United States or Russia, but have you ever thought about those countries that don’t have as much money for a team or only have a few athletes who qualify?

My family has a tradition of picking one or two of the smaller countries that can only send one or two athletes to the games, and sort of “adopting” them for us to root for over the course of the competition.

This year I am going to be watching Itte Detenamo in weightlifting.  He is from the Republic of Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation at only 8.1 square miles.  GO ITTE!

Check out Sean’s Olympic country maps of lonely onlys and tiny duos, including Grenada, Botswana and the Republic of Mauritania.

This story continues the coverage began in Keeping up with Peru’s Olympians, posted August 11. 

BEST PLACE TO VIEW LIVE OLYMPICS COVERAGE

Log onto http://www.NBCOlympics.com for streaming videos and up-to-the-minute coverage of the events as they happen.  The site is in English and is easily navigated. Now I can stop kvetching about the poor Olympics coverage by Peruvian television stations.

WRESTLING RESULTS

Sixto Barrera

Barrera told reporters in Beijing that his elbow was seriously injured in an earlier match with China’s  Yongxiang Chang, who applied an “improper” hold. 

Medal winners in the 74 k category are: Gold, Manuchar Kvirkelia (Georgia), Silver, Change Yongxiang (China), Bronze, Yavor Yanakiev (Bulgaria) and Christophe Rene Marcel Guenot (France).

Kvirkelia’s decisive 6-0, 3-0 victory Wednesday came in the same week Russian troops stormed through Georgia. The gold also was the country’s first in Beijing, notes this NBCOlympics.com report.

Click here for all final results in Men’s Greco-Roman 74k Wrestling, from ESPN Latin America.

Here’s a translation of the August 13 story on Barrera by Terra news:

The Peruvian wrestler Sixto Barrera was eliminated in his match in the 74-k category of Greco-Roman wrestling  when he lost to the Bulgarian Yavor Yanakiev, the last world champion, who beat him 3-0.

Barrera’s performance is so far the most significant of the Peruvian delegation in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Barrera was unable to do much against a rival who exceeded his abilities at every instance and demonstrated his status as monarch in this sport.

The Peruvian came to the match having lost in the quarterfinals to the Chinese Yongxiang Chang by 3-1 in the coliseum at the University of Agriculture of China.

“My opponent dealt me an improperly applied hold, after which I felt a pain in the elbow but now I’m in Recovery with the doctor. I’m concerned about my elbow, but this is the Olympics and the event is something big,” said the Peruvian to RPP prior to his match against Yanakiev.

Barrera reached the quarterfinals after overcoming the Lithuanian Valdemar Venckaitis, bronze medalist at the last World Cup.

Hope that elbow heals, Barrera. Time to call on your healer pal San Martin.

SAILING UPDATE

Peru's Paloma Schmidt, photo by Dario Lopez-Mills, AP

Peru’s Paloma Schmidt, who ranked 58 in Laser Radial at the 2008 World Championships, in New Zealand, competed in three Olympic races on August 12 and 13 (Beijing time zone), finishing 9th, 26th and 27^th in Women’s Single-Handed Dingy Europe.

Schmidt’s trains at Yacht Club Peruano, in La Punta, Callao, with coach Eduardo Villacorta, notes her sailor bio on ISAF. Her nickname is “Bird,” in reference to her first name, which means “dove” in Spanish.

Visit Schmidt’s personal blog “Sailor Bird” (written in Spanish) to read about her preparations for the Olympics and to send her your good wishes. She speaks Spanish, English and German so leave your comments in the language you prefer.

Click here for Schmidt’s bio and daily race stats from the official Beijing Olympics site.

JUDO

Carlos Zegarra

At 6′8″ tall and weighing in at 352 pounds, Peru’s Carlos Zegarra has been mistaken on China’s streets for a sumo wrestler.  The giant representing Peru in the Olympic Games trains in Spain because his home country lacks the proper training and support infrastructure for serious judo athletes, he recently told Peru21.

I’ll post an English translation of Zegarra’s Peru21 interview in a day or so.

Zegarra and 33 other judoakos in the 100 kg+ category begin competition Friday, August 15, noon Beijing time. Zegarra is paired with Argentina’s Sandro Lopez on Mat 2, in USTB Gymnasium.

 SHOOTING

 Men’s Skeet qualifications start this Friday, August 15, with Peru’s Marco Matellini scheduled in Group 4 along with Norway’s Tore Brovold.

 Day 1 qualifications begin at 9 a.m. at Beijing Shooting Range CTF. (See start list here.)

 WOMEN’S WEIGHTLIFTING

Peru’s 22-year-old female weightlifter Cristina Cornejo competes this Saturday, August 16, 7 p.m. (Beijing time) in the +75 kg category, Group A.  The 260-pound athlete weighs in at 5 p.m. at the BUAA Gymnasium.  Also competing in the +75 category on Saturday is El Salvador’s Eva Dimas.

See the AP photo, above, by Armando Franca for a view of Cornejo in action. Wow!

Click here for the official Olympic start list.

So far, three Chinese athletes have won gold medals in women’s weightlifting events at the Beijing Olympics: Chen Xiexia (Women’s 48 kg), Chen Yanging (Women’s 58 kg) and Liu Chunhong (Women’s 69 kg).  

RUNNING & ATHLETICS

Peru’s track and field athletes finally get their turn in the spotlight this Saturday, August 16, when Maria Portilla competes in the Women’s Marathon and long jumper Louis Tristan leaps into the qualifying rounds (finals are scheduled for Monday, August 18).

Tristan placed No. 2 in the 2007 South American Games

TAEKWONDO

The last Peruvian to compete in the Beijing 2008 Olympics will be taekwondo athlete Peter Lopez, on Thursday, August 21. Lopez competes in the Men’s 68 kg. preliminary rounds.

Some Peruvian martial artists apparently resent Lopez’s representing Peru in the Olympics. A quick Google search revealed this bitter discussion on the expatperu discussion boards. Discussion forum member “rgamarra” (no real name given) resents that Lopez, who has lived and trained in the United States for “most of his life,” was catapulted to the Olympics ahead of members of Peru’s national taekwondo team.