Héctor Menacho was one of Peru’s most distinguished athletes of his generation. His most notable sporting moment came at the 1956 South American Championships in Athletics, when he won the decathlon, and he won bronze in the discus at the same tournament in 1961. Despite these successes, he would have to wait until Mexico City in 1968 – when he was 40 years of age – to take part in the Olympic Games, and even then it was not in track and field. Rowing alongside Lauro Pacussich and Juan López, he was eliminated in the round one repêchage of the coxed pairs event. Also excelling as a swimmer and basketball player, he made a further mark on Peru’s sporting scene by teaching, training, and coaching several subsequent generations of athletes even before his own competitive days were over. He had a lengthy tenure in this role with Peruvian Navy.
Peru