Hard story of the Colombian cyclist who won the packaging to death

On October 2, 1993, the stage Bogota-Villavicenciothe penultimate of the lap of youth. It was raining and it was bitterly cold. The members of the platoon were not afraid, despite the fact that the road was not the best.

The stage started. Jairo Hernandez he was the leader and his Pony Malta teammates were ready to defend that condition. Louis Carlos Quintero he was one of the gregarious. That day he wore the red shirt that identified the leader of the flying goals. Born in Guacarí, Valle del Cauca, 50 years ago, he was a renowned sprinter, stage winner, collector of special sprint titles.

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That day, Quintero had to do a good stage. The arrival was flat and he was one of the favorites to win the day, but it was not like that. The wet floor, the winding and dangerous road relegated it to the back of the lot.

passing through the town of Guayabetal, Luis Carlos was with four more cyclists in search of recovering ground. In one of the thousands of hairpin turns, the rider began to lead the small group, but when he came out of it he found himself face to face with a blue Trooper camper.

He couldn’t dodge it, it was impossible to maneuver the bike, he didn’t have time to dodge it and he crashed into it. Quintero was stunned. The other four riders also crashed, but the one who took the worst part was Luis Carlos.

Without memory

They put him in an ambulance and took him to the Santa Fe de Bogota Clinic. He entered the emergency room and left that care center almost a month later.

He suffered fractures of the skull, the sternum, the left clavicle, three in one arm and four in the other, and three in the right leg.

“I don’t remember anything. Several days of my life were erased. Jairo Hernández was the leader, he won. I fought the flying goals. I only have a memory of that day, a photo that he gave me Bernardo Pedraza, with the Pony Malta shirt as the leader of the flying goals”, remember.

And I add: “Severo Leal, one of the masseurs, told me some time later that I took things calmly, because the second overall flyer had retired, so I was the champion. They tell me that I collided head-on with the car, that I was left on top of the hood. I screwed up my septum, my jaw, my collarbone, my lung was punctured and I broke several ribs. I also broke both forearms and they put plates in each one. I have a bridge on my upper teeth and they put screws in my tibia and fibula. They put a tutor on me, I spent six months with those screws in my right leg”.

Luis Carlos had a bad time, very bad. He was unconscious for eight days, he woke up for moments, but he left the world again. The doctors told her mom, Amparo Alarconwho always accompanied him, that his condition was delicate, that he was between life and death. And so it lasted 25 days, fighting the victory against the packaging to the death, but he succeeded.

“I never sued. They had me in Santa Fe de Bogotá and they paid more than 34 million. The accident problem never came to a happy end. The car belonged to Inravisión, we never reached an agreement and the lawsuit ended there. Bavaria collaborated with me for six more months, then I had to start from scratch”, he specified.

Did I ask them to tie my shoes?

The consequences of the accident were many, but the most important was the immobilization of the arm. Due to the fracture of the clavicle, the nerves of the flexobrachial plexus were severed and he lost mobility and sensation in his left arm. He underwent several operations, regained some sensation, but his forearm and hand did not respond. He was unable to ride a bike again.

After getting rid of death, Quintero had to face another ghost: depression. Alone, without help, the former cyclist remembers that he had a bad time. He did not understand why the accident happened to him. He succumbed, hit rock bottom, threw himself into grief.

“It was difficult, because I had to ask for the favor almost for everything. To get my shirt buttoned, to tie my shoes, in short, it was a very complicated issue,” he declared.

“I was left with nothing. He earned the minimum as a cyclist, like $150,000 a month. The mayor’s office helped me and later at the University I taught classes to help me financially. My dad was a construction teacher and that seemed good to me, I learned to make plans and draw, that prompted me to study”, he said.

He was the idol of the town and that served him well, because the municipality did not leave him alone. They helped him financially for a year and that was good for him, comforting. Registered at the headquarters of the University of Valley in Buga to study civil engineering.

He managed to move his career forward and become a good professional. He says that he missed some subjects, but he took remedial courses so as not to fall behind.

On the bike again

He tried to return to cycling, but adapted. In 2008, 15 years after the accident, he joined the paracycling team of the Valley. That year he was national road champion in Cali. His arm tied him to the address, but he responded with triumphs.

He tried on the track. In 2012, he suffered a heavy fall when he was training for the kilometer test for the National games. He fractured his left clavicle, underwent surgery and was unable to represent the Valley.

That was devastating, it discouraged him and he did not return to the route, much less to the track. Today, he goes out on Sundays to ride a bicycle, but now for recreation.

“I dedicated myself to work. I have little time and after 40 years it is difficult to continue pedaling, ”she warned.

Luis Carlos Quintero married Mary Luz López. She is a psychologist and works in a school. From that union there are two children: Juan Carlos, 12, and Valentina, 17, who studies social communication at the Universidad del Valle.

He is the controller of Colombia Rural, a footprint plate project for rural roads. He lives very busy and has worked in design and calculations.

“I am 50 years old and I follow cycling, I watch the races, it is my passion. The accident doesn’t take that away from me. My brother is a technician from the municipality of Buga, he is a monitor and I have a nephew who represents that municipality, he is junior and that forces me to be aware of what is happening, “he added.

This is how Luis Carlos Quintero is today, the fast cyclist who was the protagonist of a terrible accident 24 years ago, who fought against death, studied and is now a professional dedicated to his work and his family, after having lost the mobility of his right arm , something that for him, at that moment, was like having left this world.

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Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of THE TIME
@lisandroabel