only South American athlete in the race. His time of 28:20.24 was also a record for a South American under-23 athlete. At the 1988 Bolder Boulder he won the 10k with a time of 29:07. Rosa Mota won the women's 10k that year. Olympic debut Vera made his Olympic debut at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and reached the final of the 10,000 m, finishing in 15th place. He topped the podium in the men's 10,000 m at the 1989 South American Championships in Athletics, winning his first continental title. He doubled up at the 1989 Bolivarian Games and won the 10,000 m as well as taking silver in the 5000 m behind José Castillo. Vera ran at the Boston Marathon in April 1990 and finished in third place with a personal best time of 2:10:46. A month later he competed in the inaugural Trib 10K race in San Diego and, although still tired from his efforts in Boston, he won the race in an Ecuadorian record time of 28:08 minutes. In 1991, he was the winner of the Philadelphia Distance Run. His third appearance on the global stage came at the 1992 Summer Olympics and he moved off the track and up to the marathon distance. He finished in 43rd place, although this was the second best performance by a South American after Brazil's Osmiro Silva. He also won a bronze over 10,000 m at the 1992 Ibero-American Championships, repeating his performance of four years earlier. The following year Vera retained his 10,000 m title at the 1993 Bolivarian Games. In 1994, he won the Parelloop 10 km race in the Netherlands and went on to finish tenth at the 1994 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Oslo later that year – setting a national record mark of 1:01:36 for the half marathon distance. On the circuit that year he also won at the Marvejols-Mende in France. Los Angeles winner He began 1995 with a win at the San Blas Half Marathon in Puerto Rico, and continued his winning ways at the Los Angeles Marathon where he ran a very tactical race, which was held in poor weather conditions. Vera's outright refusal to take his turn at the front of the leading pack (and thus bear his share of the wind and rain) angered the reigning marathon world champion Mark Plaatjes. After 20 miles, Vera tucked in behind the only