2024-07-08 02:56:28
Photo: Alexis Copello / Instagram
Text: Raul del Pino
The European Athletics Championships Rome 2024 closed on Wednesday after six days of high-level competition, which provided a glimpse of what will happen at the Olympic Games in a month and a half, when the cream of the crop of sport will meet at the majestic Stade de France in Paris.
As is now normal on the international scene, a handful of athletes born in Cuba participated in this continental competition representing other countries. Some even took center stage, while others went unnoticed. Below Cuba Noticias 360 offers a detailed summary of the performance of each one.
Spain
Jordan Diaz (Havana, February 23, 2001) The promising triple jumper, who has been living in the Iberian country since 2021 when he left the Cuban delegation for the Tokyo Olympics, showed that the bet they made on him was not in vain. In a final seasoned by the controversy against Pedro Pablo Pichardo, Díaz posted a sequence of 18.18 meters, the third best in the history of the specialty, with which, in addition to breaking his own Spanish record, he won the gold medal. All this, in his first official competition representing Spain.
Orlando Ortega (Artemisa, July 29, 1991) The veteran hurdler is not even a shadow of what he once was due to injuries. Very little remains of the Olympic runner-up in Rio 2016 with Spain who renounced the Cuban flag. After the ordeal he has endured in recent years, the Artemisa native has tried to return to high-level competition but his times have been modest. In Rome he barely managed to make it to the semi-finals, where he clocked a modest time of 13.64 seconds which for him, however, became a small personal victory.
Yulenmis Aguilar (Granma, August 3, 1996) The jabilin thrower from Bayamo continues to be in short supply after receiving Spanish nationality in April. After the 63.90-meter throw she made in February, which was 10 cm short of the minimum qualifying mark, Aguilar has had difficulty establishing herself above 60 meters due to some physical discomfort. Her debut as a Spaniard was bittersweet, as she was unable to advance to the final after a modest 57.27 meters in the qualifier.
Yasiel Sotero (Havana, December 28, 2001) The 23-year-old discus thrower has lived in Spain since he was 14, so he does not have a competitive past in Cuba. Despite having won gold in European under-18 and under-20 competitions, his progress was halted by a heart operation he had to undergo during the pandemic. Since then his records have not been the same, but he still has the potential to fill the void in this specialty in the peninsular nation. In Rome his best throw was 60.37 meters, which meant he could not advance to the final of the event.
Portugal
Peter Paul Pichardo (Santiago de Cuba, June 30, 1993) The Olympic champion and world champion was left wanting to defend his European title from Munich 2022. It is not normal that after jumping 18.04 meters the prize is a silver medal. The culprit of this was another Cuban, in this case one who competed for Spain, Jordan Díaz, who snatched the gold from him with the third best triple jump in history. Frustrated or humiliated by the feat of his compatriot, the Santiago native questioned the legitimacy of the record on his networks the next day to make himself look ridiculous and set the table for what will probably be the most media-covered duel that Paris athletics has to offer.
Arialis Gandulla (Cienfuegos, June 22, 1995) The sprinter, who was about to turn 29, had a smooth ride through the 100-meter race in Rome, having been eliminated in the qualifying rounds. The two-time Pan American youth champion for Cuba in 2013, at least managed to set her best time of the season by stopping the clocks at 11.65 seconds, well away from her lifetime best of 11.17.
Türkiye
Yasmani Copello (Havana, April 15, 1987) At 37 years of age and with an Olympic silver medal for Turkey in the distant Rio 2016, the Havana hurdler is running out of fuel in his tank. Rome was the test, and although he clocked his best time of the year (50.57) in the semifinals, it was far from the 47.81 he achieved in the summer event in Tokyo to set the Turkish national record for the 400-meter hurdles.
Azerbaijan
Alexis Copello (Santiago de Cuba, August 12, 1985) The name of the world bronze medalist in Berlin 2009 was perhaps mentioned more for his role as mediator in the brawl between Jordan Díaz and Pedro Pichardo, than for what he did on the vault box at the Olympic stadium in Rome. The experienced triple jumper who became a naturalized Azerbaijani in 2017 is another who has already seen his best years pass. In the Italian capital his best record was 16.44 meters, with which he could not advance to the final of the event.