Background
Delgado was born in Mission Viejo, California, United States by Ecuadorian parents, giving him a dual residential status. Coming from an athletic pedigree, he grew up most of his life in an aquatic field
Delgado was born in Mission Viejo, California, United States by Ecuadorian parents, giving him a dual residential status. Coming from an athletic pedigree, he grew up most of his life in an aquatic field
Delgado"s swimming career is also overshadowed by a doping suspicion, when FINA has ordered him a one-month ban for failing the drug test. While studying in the United States, Delgado has been listed as an all-time Top 10 performer in the 200 m butterfly for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Early years
Delgado started his sporting career at age five.
Being natural on the water in his early childhood, Delgado began competing in numerous age group meets across Mission Viejo and nearby areas.
Delgado attended Mission Viejo High School, where he swam for the Mission Viejo Nadadores. Coming to the sport more reluctantly, he did not get serious about swimming until reaching his junior season.
Delgado accepted a partial athletic scholarship to attend the Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, where he played for the Arizona State Sun Devils swimming and diving team under head coach Mike Chasson. Serving as the school"s team captain, he posted a sixth-fastest time of 1:48.74 in the 200-yard butterfly at the 1997 Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
In the spring of 1998, he graduated from the University with a bachelor"s degree in marketing.
International career
On May 24, 1999, Delgado"s swimming career had been overshadowed by a doping suspicion. He received a temporary suspension or a one-month ban from FINA after testing positive for the banned stimulants pseudophedrine and cathine at the Short Course World Championships in Hong Kong. At the 2000 Summer Olympics inSydney, Delgado decided to drop all freestyle relays, and experiment instead with a butterfly double.
In his first event, 200 m butterfly, Delgado placed forty-third on the morning prelims.
Swimming in heat one, he picked up a third seed by almost five seconds behind Chinese Taipei"s Tseng Cheng-hua, outside his entry time of 2:08.18. Three days later, in the 100 m butterfly, Delgado challenged seven other swimmers in heat two, including Guam"s 28-year-old Daniel O"Keeffe, and Bosnia"s three-time Olympian Janko Gojković.
He rocketed to a fifth-place finish and forty-sixth overall in a time of 56.07, but could not hold off a challenge from O"Keeffe, who touched the wall ahead by a small fraction of a second.
A member of the Ecuadorian squad, he placed fifteenth in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay (3:2777), and sixteenth in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay (7:5437).
