Olympic medalists Dajomes, Palacios and Yépez to lead Ecuador at South American Games

Neisi Dajomes, Lucía “la Tigra” Yépez and Angie Palacios will be the leading figures in Ecuador’s delegation for the South American Games in Santa Fe, Argentina.

Dajomes won Olympic gold in weightlifting at Tokyo 2020 and bronze in Paris 2024. Yépez took silver in wrestling at Paris 2024, while Palacios won bronze in weightlifting at the same Games. They are among 182 Ecuadorian athletes, including 95 men and 87 women, who will compete in 29 sports.

The delegation is smaller than Ecuador’s team at the 2022 South American Games in Asunción, where 219 athletes finished sixth in the overall medal table with 78 medals, including 25 gold, 21 silver and 32 bronze. Important absences include Olympic race-walking champion Daniel Pintado, who is injured, and world race-walking champion Paula Torres.

Ecuador will combine experienced athletes with young competitors seeking their first international successes. Among them is 16-year-old hurdler Stiven Méndez, who won the 400-meter hurdles at the South American Youth Games and set a South American record of 53.11 seconds in April. He later won bronze at the Ibero-American Championships in Lima and reached the semifinals of the Under-20 World Championships in Oregon.

Manuel Bravo, former president of the Ecuadorian Athletics Federation, called Méndez “a track phenomenon at just 16 years old.” Shot-putter Belsy Quiñónez, 19, is another rising athlete, having won silver at both the Ibero-American Championships and the Under-20 World Championships. The delegation also includes young athletes in modern pentathlon, swimming, table tennis, climbing, taekwondo, triathlon and beach volleyball, reflecting a generational transition led by Ecuadorian Olympic Committee president Jefferson Pérez.

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Méndez is a track phenomenon at just 16 years old.