2024-04-14 05:49:27
The Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas announced this Friday her withdrawal from Paris-2024 due to an injury to her left Achilles tendon.
“My heart is broken and I feel so sad that I want to apologize for not being able to represent them in Paris-2024,” said Rojas in a statement released on social networks and addressed to his native Venezuela, accompanied by a photograph of him in bed in the clinic where he was operated.
The 28-year-old athlete explained that she was injured while training: “When I received a jump, I had intense pain that resulted in an injury to the Achilles tendon.”
«Today I feel very emotionally affected by not being able to represent them, the desire to defend my Olympic title excited me enormously; but today I have to stop, understand this, recover and come back with great strength to continue flying together,” said the woman from Caracas, considered the queen of the triple jump and trained by the Cuban legend Iván Pedroso.
Owner of last year’s best world record, 15.35 meters, Rojas hoped to revalidate the gold won in Tokyo-2020 in Paris-2024, when she joined the boxer Francisco ‘Morochito’ Rodríguez in Mexico-1968, the taekwondo player Arlindo Gouveia in Barcelona- 1992 and the fencer Rubén Limardo in London-2012 in the exclusive club of Venezuelans who have won Olympic gold medals. He had won silver in Rio-2016.
She also aspired to become the first woman to break the 16-meter barrier in the triple jump.
His world record of 15.74, set indoors on March 20, 2022 in Belgrade, supported that goal.
– “The most important thing is your health” –
The athlete was one of Venezuela’s big bets to win a medal in Paris-2024, along with weightlifters Julio Mayora and Keydomar Vallenilla, who won silver in Tokyo-2020.
«I wish our Venezuelan delegation much success in Paris-2024. From now on I am very proud of you,” said Rojas.
“Yulimar Rojas will not be in Paris-2024 defending his gold medal,” the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) published in X with a crying emoticon. “However, for the entire sports family (…), the most important thing is your health and speedy recovery,” he added.
Rubén Limardo, who will be part of the Venezuelan delegation in what will be his fifth participation in the Olympic Games, also had words of support for the Caracas athlete.
«The entire delegation will go with you to Paris, Yuli; and every step we take, we will do it thinking that you will be with us body, soul and heart,” published the Olympic sword champion in London-2012. “You can, warrior, get up and fly again.”
PanamSports “deeply regretted this unfortunate event of our ambassador” and sent “all the support and positive energies for her speedy recovery.”
The triple jumper’s additional objective in Paris was also to participate in the long jump and seek a gold double.
Rojas collects four outdoor world championships in the triple jump (2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023) and three indoor championships (2016, 2018 and 2022), in addition to three Diamond League titles (2021, 2022 and 2023) .
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, also reacted in X. «All my love, solidarity, support and I ask for God’s blessings for our Olympic, world, universal champion (…). We love you and we know of your commitment and discipline, you are a warrior of life, an example for the youth,” said the president.
– Surgery –
Rojas’ surgery was performed on Thursday at the prestigious CEMTRO Clinic in Madrid.
“I am already recovering after my operation,” said the athlete, thanking “a wonderful team of professionals led by the specialist in Traumatology and Surgery Dr. Pedro Guillén and supported by Dr. Tomás Fernández.
Guillén is considered one of the greatest experts in sports medicine in the world, with a long career in which he has treated great figures such as the late Argentine star Diego Armando Maradona.
© Agence France-Presse