Cuban athlete’s gesture of giving back medal to Mexican peer praised (+Photos)

The gesture of Cuban athlete Laina Perez to reject the medal she won by regulation and give it back to Mexican shooter Alejandra Cervantes has had emotional repercussions here on Thursday.

The Medio Tiempo newspaper, which published a chronicle of the event, pointed out that according to the rules of the Central American and Caribbean Games, no country can monopolize all three places on the podium, so the fourth place in any competition will receive the bronze medal.

Perez gave one of the most special moments in the 24th Central American Games in San Salvador, when she refused the bronze medal that had been awarded to her due to a technicality, so she gave it back to Alejandra Cervantes, whom deserved it.

“Whoever made the rules was not an athlete and if he was, he has already forgotten it, because it is unfair that whoever wins a competition cannot take the medal home. It has no justification, it is absurd, and I don’t know why, and if in previous competitions this happened, but well… The medal is not mine, it is hers”, the Cuban athlete stressed.