Luis Alberto Rivera Morales (born 21 June 1987) is a Mexican long jumper. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade. He also competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. His personal best is 8.46 metres, achieved in July 2013.^[2]

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Luis Rivera

Rivera at the 2013 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1987-06-21) June 21, 1987 (age 36) Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight	79 kg (174 lb)
Sport
Country	Mexico
Sport	Athletics
Event	Long jump
Medal record World Championships 2013 Moscow Long jump Summer Universiade 2013 Kazan Long jump

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His brother, Edgar Rivera, competes in the high jump.

A native of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Rivera was oldest of four children born to Luis Rivera Pompa and Alejandra Morales.^[3] His father had excelled in athletics while his maternal grandfather, León Morales Amézquita, was a marathon runner and played professional football for Unión de Curtidores.^[3]

Rivera played football before he began practicing the long jump at the age of 17.^[3][4]

He attended Central Arizona College, where he learned English. He won the junior college national championship in both the triple jump and the long jump.^[5] After finishing his General Studies degree, he transferred to the University of Arizona, where he was named all-American in long jump. He also won the indoor and outdoor conference titles in both the long jump and triple jump.^[5]

In 2013, Rivera competed at the Summer Universiade held in Kazan, Russia, where he jumped 8.46 meters to take the gold medal in a head-to-head battle with Russian national favorite Aleksandr Menkov, who finished 4 cm behind. Rivera's winning jump became the Mexican national record, and the University Games record.

Just over a month later, at the World Championships in Moscow, Russia, Menkov was again in the competition. This time Menkov took the gold with the Russian National record of 8.56 m while Rivera took the bronze medal with a jump of 8.27 m.

Rivera was given the National Sports Award [es] in 2013 for his performances.^[6]

Rivera earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Arizona before earning his master's degree in electrical engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM).^[3] He subsequently earnned his PhD in industrial engineering from ITESM.^[6]

His brother, Edgar Rivera, competes in the high jump. Two other brothers, Adrián and Jorge, also compete in athletics.^[7] A documentary about the Rivera quartet, called El gran salto, was released in 2021.^[7]

In May 2021, Rivera announced his candidacy for the municipal president of Agua Prieta, challenging incumbent Jesús Alfonso Montaño Durazo, cousin of Governor Alfonso Durazo.^[6]

After earning his PhD, Rivera soon began to teach pre-calculus, AP and standard geometry at Douglas High School in Douglas, Arizona, a town closely linked as the sister city of Agua Prieta, Sonora.^[8]

"I don't have this class, i'm just here because my boyfriend is" - Girlfriend of a student of Rivera

"O te toca un profe que sabe enseñar o con el que sacas curas, y en la clase del Rivera las curas nunca faltaron." - Former student of Rivera