Ledis Balceiro

Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon (born April 18, 1975 in Matanzas) is a Cuban flatwater canoer who has won two world titles and two Olympic silver medals.

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

At the 1999 Pan American Games held in Winnepeg, Balceiro duelled with Canadian Steve Giles, the reigning world C-1 1000m champion. Giles won the 1000m final ahead of Balceiro; in the 500m the placings were reversed.

By now the Cubans were challenging the top European canoers as well and at the Sydney Olympics Balceiro achieved another first as he won the country's first-ever canoe/kayak Olympic medal - the C-1 1000m silver behind Germany's Andreas Dittmer. In the 500m 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 they became double world champions (C-2 200m and 500m) in Seville, Spain. They also took the silver medal in the 1000m 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 Pan-American Games (500m and 1000m) and went to the World Championships at Gainesville, USA, as favourites. Unlike their main European rivals they again entered all three C-2 events. The Cuban pair had had very little recovery time since the Pan-American Games however and, this time, their gruelling race schedule took its toll on Rojas and they finished outside the medals.

Both men were due to retire after the Athens Olympics and were hopeful of bowing out with a medal. Eighth place in the 1000m 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 200m world record of 38.383 seconds (Seville 2002)