Gabriela "Gaby" Lourdes Pérez del Solar Cuculiza (born 10 July 1968) is a Peruvian former volleyball player and two-time Olympian. Following her sports career, she entered politics and served as a Congresswoman of the Christian People's Party.
Pérez del Solar began to play volleyball at 14 years old. Her 1.94 m height helped her to become an internationally respected middle blocker.[2] While representing Peru at just 16 years old, she finished in fourth place in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[3][4]
Pérez del Solar began to show her abilities for the sport in the 1985 FIVB World Cup in Japan, and at just 17 years old was chosen as the best blocker of the tournament and finished in fifth place. She also won the gold medal in the 1985 South American Championship. She won the bronze medal in the 1986 FIVB World Championship in Czechoslovakia and silver in the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. She won the gold medal in the 1987 South American Championship in Punta del Este and 1987 Japan Cup, where she was awarded best spiker. She was a member of the team that won the silver medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and was selected as the best receiver.[1]
Pérez del Solar won the 1988 Top Four bronze medal, 1989 South American Championship gold medal in Curitiba, and finished in fifth place in the 1989 FIVB World Cup in Japan. She finished sixth in the 1990 FIVB World Championship in China and won the bronze medal in the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, silver in the 1991 South American Championship in São Paulo, and finished fifth in the 1991 FIVB World Cup in Japan. She retired from the Peruvian national team after winning the 1993 South American Championship in Cuzco.[1]
In Italy
After retiring in Peru, Pérez del Solar played volleyball in Italy. She was invited to become a member of the Italian national team but rejected the offer.[1]
Political life
In 2005, the then-presidential candidate Lourdes Flores Nano invited Pérez del Solar to run for Congress and she accepted. In the general elections of 2006, she was elected with the most votes in her district and fifth highest number of votes in the nation. In April 2006, she became a member of the National Unity, in a ceremony prepared by Xavier Barrón and Lourdes Flores. In the 2011 election, she was re-elected for another five-year term on the ticket of the Alliance for the Great Change to which the Christian People's Party now belongs.
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