Ecuadoran Olympic sprinter Alex Quinonez was shot dead in the port city of Guayaquil, authorities have said, sparking an outpouring of grief in a country struggling to contain a surge in violence.
Quinonez, 32, and another person were found dead close to midnight on Friday, police said.
Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso promised to bring the sprinter’s killers to justice.
Photo: AFP
“Those who take the lives of Ecuadoreans will not remain unpunished. We will act with force,” Lasso wrote on Twitter.
The provincial governor likewise pledged accountability for the murders.
“No one will rest until @PoliciaEcuador captures the culprits. We are facing a war against drug gangs that intend to subdue us,” Guayas Governor Pablo Arosemena said on Twitter.
Photo: Reuters
The country’s sports ministry confirmed Quinonez’s killing on Twitter, paying tribute to the “greatest sprinter this country produced.”
“We have lost a great sportsman, someone who allowed us to dream, who moved us,” the ministry said.
Quinonez held Ecuador’s record for 200m with a time of 19.87 seconds.
He was a finalist in the 2012 London Games, achieving seventh place after competing in the semi-finals in the lane next to Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in history.
The Ecuadoran Olympic Committee said that the death of Quinonez “leaves us with profound pain” and that his “legacy will forever stay in our hearts.”
The sprinter’s body was due to return to his hometown of Esmeraldas on Saturday night.
A tribute yesterday was to see the athlete’s coffin placed in a burning chapel in a soccer stadium in the town, the sports ministry said.
Quinonez’s killing comes as violence has spiked dramatically in Ecuador in the past few months.
From January to this month, the country registered almost 1,900 homicides, compared with about 1,400 in the whole of last year, the government said.
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