Who was angry with Alex Quiñonez? The investigation will have to determine it. The 32-year-old Ecuadorian sprinter, bronze medalist over 200 meters at the 2019 Worlds, was shot dead overnight from Friday to Saturday in a neighborhood of Guayaquil, a city in central Ecuador, reported several media.
According to the local newspaper El Telégrafo, the sprinter was killed by contract killers, without knowing the motive. The death of the athlete was confirmed on Twitter by Roberto Ibáñez, president of the Sports Federation of the province of Guayas. “My heart is totally broken, I can’t find words to describe the emptiness I feel,” he wrote.
ESPN Deportes recalls on its website that Alex Quiñonez was the best sprinter Ecuador has ever seen, with records of 10.09 seconds in the 100 meters flat and 19.87 seconds in the 200 meters. He had not been able to participate in the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, the athlete having missed several doping controls.
Alex Quiñonez’s death takes place in a particular context in Ecuador. President Guillermo Lasso announced on Monday the state of emergency for the whole country due to a wave of violence due to drug trafficking, ordering the mobilization in the streets of police and military.
