Juan Carlos Zabala (October 11, 1911 – January 24, 1983), also known as "El

Ñandú The rhea ( ), also known as the ñandu ( ) or South American ostrich, is a South American ratite (flightless bird without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on the sternum bone) of the order Rheiformes. They are distantly related to the two African Ost ...

Criollo", was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

long-distance runner, who won the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

Biography

Zabala ran his first marathon at the end of October 1931. Ten days after that he set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the 30 km (1:42:30.4). Later, before the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

, Zabala would run a new world record in the 20 km (1:04:00.2). Zabala's peak was the 1932 Olympic marathon race. He ran in the lead group almost the entire distance. With just four kilometres left, he broke free to finish 20 seconds ahead of Sam Ferris from Great Britain. Zabala also participated at the

, placing sixth over 10,000 m, but could not defend his Olympic title in the marathon. Zabala took the lead from the start, but tripped and fell at 28 km, and abandoned the race after 33 km when the main group caught him. Zabala was the flag bearer for Argentina at the opening ceremony of the

. In 1983 he was named as Argentina's track and field athlete of the century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zabala, Juan Carlos 1911 births 1983 deaths Argentine male marathon runners Olympic athletes for Argentina Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Rosario, Santa Fe Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Argentine sportsmen