Daniela Larreal

Daniela Larreal

Larreal in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos
Born	(1972-10-02)2 October 1972[a] Maracaibo, Venezuela
Died	11 August 2024(2024-08-11) (aged 51)[b] Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Medal record Women's track cycling Representing  Venezuela Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Keirin 2011 Guadalajara Team sprint 2003 Santo Domingo Sprint 2003 Santo Domingo Keirin 2011 Guadalajara Sprint Pan American Championships 2005 Mar del Plata Keirin 2012 Mar del Plata Team sprint 2010 Aguascalientes Keirin 2011 Medellin Team sprint 2014 Aguascalientes Team sprint 2010 Aguascalientes Sprint 2011 Medellin Sprint 2014 Aguascalientes Keirin 2014 Aguascalientes Sprint Central American and Caribbean Games 1998 Maracaibo Sprint 2002 San Salvador Sprint 2002 San Salvador Keirin 2002 San Salvador Scratch 2010 Mayagüez Sprint 2010 Mayagüez 500m Time trial 2010 Mayagüez Keirin 2010 Mayagüez Team sprint 1998 Maracaibo 500m Time trial 2002 San Salvador 500m Time trial 1998 Maracaibo Points race

Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos (2 October 1972 – c.11 August 2024)^[1][4] was a Venezuelan track cyclist — a five-time Olympian considered one of Venezuela's most important sportspeople and the leading Venezuelan cyclist for over two decades^[5][6][7][8] — and political exile.

Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos was born on 2 October 1972^[1] in Maracaibo, the daughter of cyclist Daniel Larreal.^[9] Her father introduced her to cycling,^[10] which she began at a young age, always being fast on the track.^[11] In Venezuela, she completed a degree in physical education,^[12] having studied alongside her career.^[13] When she moved to the United States, she started a two-year course for the equivalent qualification.^[14]

Like other successful athletes, the Venezuelan regime awarded Larreal with a house and car; after leaving the country, Larreal revealed to Spanish media that such houses were being invaded by squatters due to the crisis in Venezuela, and the cars were cheap models made in China that she could cycle faster than.^[15]

Larreal's first championship was the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games, where she won a silver medal.^[9]

She competed at five different Olympic Games, representing Venezuela at the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2012 Summer Olympics.^[16][17] Among Venezuelan athletes, this feat has since been matched by Fabiola Ramos (1996 through 2012) and Rubén Limardo (2008 through 2024).^[18] Larreal earned four Olympic diplomas for her results.^[16]

She was the first holder of the Olympic record for women's track time trial, with a time of 35.728 in 2000; she ultimately finished tenth, with four other cyclists achieving a new Olympic record in the event.^[19]

In January 2003, Larreal began focused training for the 2004 Olympics at a centre in Switzerland. During the classification race for fifth through eighth places of the sprint competition at the 2004 Olympics, Larreal finished behind race winner Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus but was also judged to have cycled within the inner lane and impeded Tsylinskaya. Larreal was disqualified and handed automatic eighth place as bottom of the athletes who made it to the quarterfinals.^[20][2] Larreal said the decision was unjust as she did not enter the lane intentionally but had been forced into it to avoid other cyclists. She also reflected that she was proud to be one of the eight best in the world, especially against cyclists with better resources.^[2]

At the 2004 Games, she said that she would not aim for the 2008 Summer Olympics, saying that as she was already 30 years old she probably only had a year or two of competitive cycling ahead.^[2]

She did not go to the 2008 Games, but did compete in 2012. She said she would retire after the 2012 Games, choosing the Olympics as a stage "to say goodbye to the track."^[21] A sprint cyclist,^[17][22][23] she also competed in the keirin in 2012.^[24][25] She finished last in her race of the second round of the keirin, not qualifying for the final, and then came third in the classification race for seventh through twelfth places, originally coming ninth overall.^[21] In 2016, the Russian cyclist who came eighth was retroactively disqualified for doping,^[26] with eighth place and the Olympic diploma reallocated to Larreal in 2020.^[27] The 2012 Games was the first time the Olympic women's team sprint was contested; Larreal and Mariaesthela Vilera won the first heat in a time of 34.320, meaning they briefly and unofficially held the Olympic record in women's team sprint. The pair ultimately placed seventh.^[28]

Larreal was preparing to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics when the Venezuelan Cycling Federation, which was run by the government and which she had criticised for not giving athletes their assigned funding, refused to register her at qualifying events. She then complained about this, which led to threats from officials and the Federation trying to confiscate her passport. On one occasion, when she was driving to visit her father, two trucks tried to force her off the road before she evaded them — her father then told her she had to leave the country.^[14]

Larreal first criticised the Venezuelan government in 2012, under Hugo Chávez and then-Minister for Sports Héctor Rodríguez, for irregularities in state funding of sports — at this point, specifically accusing them of sponsoring a motor sport athlete who did not exist in order to take foreign currency out of Venezuela.^[14] She had previously praised Chávez for heavily funding and promoting sports in Venezuela in his early years as president.^[2]

After the death of Hugo Chávez in 2013, with Nicolás Maduro inheriting the leadership of Venezuela, Larreal further accused the Ministry of Sports of widespread corruption,^[29] saying Maduro treated the department as a source of petty cash^[14] and that various officials were implicated in corruption when allocating resources.^[15] She was a vocal critic of the presidency of Nicolás Maduro,^[16] which she called a dictatorship,^[12] and became an activist for democracy.^[29] She joined political party Popular Will in 2016.^[30]

Her political activism saw Larreal receive death threats in Venezuela and she was forced into exile and banned from entering Venezuela in 2016,^[31] seeking political asylum in the United States.^[32][12] At this point, chavista media in Venezuela tried to villainise her, saying that she had used $2 million of sports funding to open two companies in the United States; she had no companies and worked menial jobs.^[15] Larreal also stated that the Ministry of Sports had forced other cyclists to formally denounce her,^[13][14] but that her teammates had privately supported her.^[14] In the United States, Larreal continued promoting opposition to Maduro.^[29] She joined the Vente Venezuela political party in 2018,^[11] with other Venezuelan athletes Borman Angulo and Freiber Zerpa.^[33] She was still associated with Vente Venezuela at the time of her death, supporting María Corina Machado^[12][16] and posting on social media about the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election and 2024 Venezuelan protests.^[29]

Larreal lived in Miami in 2016, where she drove an Uber, using what she earned to fund her education and send medicine and food packages to her sick father, though these were often confiscated by the Venezuelan regime.^[15][14] She later worked at a hotel in Las Vegas,^[16] with Fox Sports reporting she was a waitress there.^[34]

On 12 August 2024, she was declared missing after failing to turn up for work; several days later, she was found dead at her apartment in Las Vegas.^[16] A preliminary autopsy said she died of asphyxia after choking on food on 11 August 2024,^[4][35] though "the cause and method" of her death were still being investigated by the the Clark County Medical Examiner as of 20 August.^[3]

The 2024 Vuelta a España began on 17 August 2024, with Colombian former cyclist Víctor Hugo Peña presenting the tour for ESPN and giving a tribute to Larreal at its opening.^[36] France 24 sports journalist Juan José Sayago posted on X (Twitter) that there would likely be a tribute held to Larreal at the Teo Capriles Velodrome [es] in Caracas.^[37]

• Daniela Larreal at Cycling Archives
• Daniela Larreal at CycleBase
• Daniela Larreal at Olympedia
• Daniela Larreal at Olympics.com