Walker wins first ever medal for Guatemala

Before Erick Barrondo of Guatemala travelled to London to compete at the Olympics, he bought his family their first-ever TV.

Good decision.

His parents, both middle-distance runners, watched him race in the 20-km walk in which he won a silver. It was first medal of any colour at any Olympic games for the poverty-stricken and violence-wrecked Central American nation.

"It is a country that has suffered much, but that also has dreams," said Barrondo, a 21-year-old accounting student. "If somebody tomorrow changes a gun or a knife for a pair of shoes and begins to train for a sport, I would be the happiest person on earth."

Otto Perez, the president of Guatemala, said "this achievement shows what we can do with perseverance."
 

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