View source for Ledis Balceiro

{{Short description|Cuban sprint canoeist (born 1975)}}
{{family name hatnote|Balceiro|Pajon|lang=Spanish}} 
{{Infobox sportsperson
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| sport = [[Canoeing]]
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|4|18}}
| birth_place = [[Matanzas]], Cuba
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| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Canoe racing|canoe sprint]]}}
{{MedalOlympic}}
{{MedalSilver|[[2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Sydney]]|[[Canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's C-1 1000 metres|C-1 1000 m]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[2004 Summer Olympics|2004 Athens]]|[[Canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's C-2 500 metres|C-2 500 m]]}}
{{MedalWorldChampionships}}
{{MedalGold|[[2002 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|2002 Seville]]|C-2 200 m}}
{{MedalGold|[[2002 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|2002 Seville]]|C-2 500 m}}
{{MedalSilver|[[2002 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|2002 Seville]]|C-2 1000 m}}
{{MedalBronze|[[2003 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|2003 Gainesville]]|C-2 500 m}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Pan American Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1995 Pan American Games|1995 Mar del Plata]] | [[Canoeing at the 1995 Pan American Games|C-1 1000 m]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1999 Pan American Games|1999 Winnipeg]] | [[Canoeing at the 1999 Pan American Games|C-1 500 m]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[2003 Pan American Games|2003 Santo Domingo]] | [[Canoeing at the 2003 Pan American Games|C-2 500 m]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[2003 Pan American Games|2003 Santo Domingo]] | [[Canoeing at the 2003 Pan American Games|C-2 1000 m]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1999 Pan American Games|1999 Winnipeg]] | [[Canoeing at the 1999 Pan American Games|C-1 1000 m]]}}
}}

'''Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon''' (born April 18, 1975) is a [[Cuba]]n [[canoe racing|sprint canoeist]] who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.

In [[1995 Pan American Games|1995]] Balceiro became the first-ever Cuban canoeist to win a major international title, taking the [[Pan-American Games]] C-1 1000 m gold medal in [[Mar del Plata]], Argentina.

At the [[1999 Pan American Games]] in [[Winnipeg]], Balceiro duelled with Canadian [[Steve Giles]], the reigning [[1998 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|world]] C-1 1000 m champion. Giles won the C-1 1000 m final ahead of Balceiro with the positions reversed in the C-1 500 m event.

By now the Cubans were challenging the top European canoeists as well and at the [[Canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics|Sydney Olympics]], Balceiro achieved another first as he won the country's first-ever canoe/kayak Olympic medal - the C-1 1000 m silver behind Germany's [[Andreas Dittmer]]. In the C-1 500 m event, he finished sixth.

On the retirement of [[Leobaldo Pereira]] at the end of the 2001 season, Balceiro was selected as the new partner for [[Ibrahim Rojas]] in Cuba's two-man (C-2) canoe. The two men had occasionally raced together as teenagers and struck up an immediate understanding on and off the water. In [[2002 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|2002]] they became double world champions (C-2 200 m and C-2 500 m) in [[Seville]], Spain. They also took the silver medal in the C-2 1000 m final. The pair were voted Cuban Athletes of the Year in recognition of their achievement.

In 2003 they won both C-2 finals at the [[2003 Pan American Games|Pan American Games]] (500 m and 1000 m) and went to the [[2003 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships|World Championships]] at [[Gainesville, Georgia|Gainesville]], USA, as favourites. Unlike their main European rivals, they again entered all three C-2 events. They finished fourth in the C-2 500 m, but were awarded bronze after the [[Russia]]n team was stripped of their silver medals following [[Sergey Ulegin]]'s [[doping (sport)|doping]] disqualification. The Cuban pair had had very little recovery time since the Pan-American Games however and, this time, their grueling race schedule took its toll on Rojas and they finished outside the medals.

Both men were due to retire after the [[Canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics|Athens Olympics]] and were hopeful of bowing out with a medal. Eighth place in the C-2 1000 m final was a disappointment, but the next day they won the C-2 500m silver medal.

Balceiro later decided to continue and switched back to the C-1 event for the 2005 season.

He holds the C-1 200 m world record of 38.383 seconds ([[Seville]] 2002)

==References==
*{{sports links}}

{{Footer World Champions Canoe Sprint C-2 200 m Men}}
{{Footer World Champions Canoe Sprint C-2 500 m Men}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balceiro, Ledis}}
[[Category:1975 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Matanzas]]
[[Category:Canoeists at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Cuban male canoeists]]
[[Category:Olympic canoeists for Cuba]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for Cuba]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in canoeing]]
[[Category:ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in Canadian]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Canoeists at the 1995 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Canoeists at the 1999 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Canoeists at the 2003 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba]]
[[Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for Cuba]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists in canoeing]]
[[Category:Pan American Games silver medalists in canoeing]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games]]