Early beginnings as a successful athlete Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo was born in Madrid on 30 April 1932. When he was a child, he went to live with his family in
Pamplona, where he studied to be an agricultural expert and stood out as a great athlete. In the mid 50s Miguel and Félix Erausquin, a pitcher of the
Basque bar, adapted the Basque technique to the throwing of Olympic
javelin. In the manner of the disk or hammer, pitcher turns on itself before throwing. After much training, Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo presented the "Spanish style" of throwing the javelin. The effectiveness was that high that in 1956 added 20 meters to the world record, which at the time was around 80. However, the record was never approved by the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It thought that launch was too dangerous for the public because during the rotation the javelin tip was focused to them. He was nine times champion of Spain in the javelin, hammer and discus, being able to compete in the
1960 Summer Olympics. Between 1961 and 1963 he worked for the Colombian government as
ethnobotany in
the Amazon region.
First steps in the journalism world Later he became a reporter for
Televisión Española (TVE), where would cover wars such as the
Congo (he was sentenced to death for filming the execution of 300 prisoners),
Vietnam,
Eritrea, and
Mozambique and events such as the death of
Che Guevara (1967) or the
Pinochet coup in Chile (1973).
Salvador Allende,
Pablo Neruda,
Indira Gandhi,
Haile Selassie,
Norodom Sihanouk,
Yassir Arafat and the
14th Dalai Lama are among the personalities interviewed by him in his time as a reporter. He subsequently participated in programs such as
Los reporteros (with
Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente,
César Pérez de Tudela,
Manu Leguineche and
Jesús González Green) and
A la caza del tesoro, presented by , where he traveled by helicopter somewhere in the world following the instructions of the contestants who were in the studio.
Ruta Quetzal In 1979, following a suggestion by the King of Spain,
Juan Carlos I, he created
Aventura 92 (known in its current form as
Ruta Quetzal), an education and cultural exchange project for young people between 16 and 17 years old from all Spanish-speaking countries with the aim of strengthening the Ibero-American Community of Nations. For 15 years, 7,000 young Europeans and Americans have had the opportunity to discover different cultures as the old Mediterranean civilizations or pre-Columbian cultures. The project is a journey of about one month and a half which is divided in two stages: an American and a Spanish itinerary. Approximately 350 young people from 50 countries study the history, geography and culture of the countries they explore by visiting historical places and participating in conferences that take place during the trip. The members of the expedition live together, share tents and coexist, sometimes in uncomfortable conditions, trying to create an environment of support and respect amongst each other. Since 1979 the route has covered more than 20 countries: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Honduras, and Costa Rica. Until 1992 the program was called
Aventura 92 to commemorate the centenary of the discovery of America. Since 1993 the program is named Ruta Quetzal. The project is sponsored by the King of Spain, and it was declared in 1990 of universal interest by the
UNESCO. Besides purely academic activities they are also workshops on new technologies, computer, television, journalism, photography, astronomy, diving, marine science, music and other subjects, as well as talks and discussion sessions on "Development Cooperation". At later stages de la Quadra-Salcedo involved in the project his nephew,
Telmo Aldaz de la Quadra-Salcedo, who then launched a similarly formatted though less ambitious project,
España Rumbo al Sur. == TV career ==