Cuban sport is still alive!

This 2023 is still a present anxious to be the future. We are talking about 12 months of resistance and victory, which will lead Cuba to dawn in 2024 full of challenges. That destiny is already motivation.

This is how Cuban sports will face the next calendar, in which, on a day of such patriotic relevance as July 26, it will undertake the mission of turning into reality what it prepared in 2023. The die is cast, on that date of the next calendar the XXXII Olympic Games will be inaugurated in Paris.

Two multisport demands, in the midst of one of the most critical moments that the Cuban economy has gone through during the Revolution, which has damaged many of the social benefits, marked the year: the Central American and Caribbean Games, in June, in San Salvador, and the Pan American Games, in October, in Santiago de Chile.

It was a wise and visionary approach to these events. Not going with a "championist" sense, and competing according to the real possibilities of the national sports movement at that time, was adjusted to what was objectively achievable, and gave the opportunity to evaluate, in situations of high demand, the strategy for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Cuba did not go to the Salvadoran or Santiago de Cuba to count medals, but to expose the human qualities that make the sports movement a true reflection of a people that does not stop fighting.

That is why, in the words of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, "Cuba pedaled with Arlenis, circled in the air with Anisley, threw with Laina, Leuris and Jorge, jumped with Parada, ran with the girls of the relay", and upon receiving them in the Homeland, after those glorious pages, he exclaimed: Cuban sport is still alive!

This is also the reason why the largest of the Antilles surpassed what was expected in the medal table, by passing, in the Central Caribbean meeting, the 70 golden laurels, and in the continental meeting, the 22 awards of that color. But the data, although relevant, is not the main thing in the strategy to go for more in 2024.

2023, THE BREAKTHROUGH

Courage, combativeness, resilience and that nonconformity that runs through the spirit of Cuban citizenship were shown in these events. True milestones were registered for some young people who, without an optimal preparation environment, did not give up on victory. Proof of this are the 43 debutants who reached the podium at the Pan American Games.

It had been 25 years since swimming climbed to the top of the podium in a Central American and Caribbean Games, but a group of girls, led by Elisbet Gámez, with the accurate guidance of their teacher, María Luisa Mojarrieta, returned golden; the international medal list of women's boxing was released there, with one silver and two bronze; athletics again dominated the area, and also wrestling, with 15 gold medals, one second place and a pair of third place.

In Santiago de Chile, after 32 years, table tennis emerged as the winner against world-class teams. The same time passed to see a Cuban sprinter champion, while the women's 4x100 and 4x400 relays gave us electrifying races that, like Juantorena, made us fly along the track with them, with our hearts.

Judo beat a world power like Brazil in the team competition, even with one competitor missing, which enhanced the continental gold metal. No sport was like wrestling. In addition to her two world titles, those of Luis Orta and Gabriel Rosillo, in the Central Caribbean and Pan American Games, she made the anthem of the mattresses Cuban.

The best canoeist Cuba has ever had, in 2023 and in its history, Yarisleidis Cirilo, won the world title and sent a signal to Paris-2024. Another world diadem was achieved by fighter Yoenlis Feliciano, who later twisted the path of his fists, leaving his team.

How not to stop in front of the dynamism and joy of the youngest champions of the year. The boys of Baseball5 reigned at the World Youth Championship without the shadow of a setback.

If we are talking about feat, Robiel Yankiel Sol set the bar as high as Javier Sotomayor, whose record of 2.45, in 2023 turned 30, and the first one he set (2.43), 35, and received the Panam Sport Legend Award. Robiel follows in the footsteps of the Prince of Heights, with three world records in the year.

Sometimes, everyday life gets us used to it, or we get used to its routine, but Omara Durand has her own routine, which is to win. At the Parapan American Games, she won her 13th gold medal, and her 14th in the world championships.

Volleyball player Miguel Ángel López and wrestler Luis Orta were elected the best in the world, and Cirilo the best athlete in the Americas, according to the organization of journalists of that continent.

THE YEAR 2024, THE MOVIE

The effort and the results of a 2023 in which the blockade and the persecution of any financial movement of Cuba intensified even more, and more than 70 athletes left the national teams during the year, cannot be doubted. What was achieved is a feat, because it did not look at the triumphalist side.

Cuban sport knows, because of its rich history, and because it does not renounce to remain a sports power, that in the Central Caribbean Games, San Salvador was the third one in which it decreased in gold medals and totals: Veracruz-2014 (123 and 254), Barranquilla-2018 (102 and 242) and in 2023 (74 and 196); that in the Pan American Games, for the fifth time, we decreased in titles: Santo Domingo-2003 (72), Rio de Janeiro-2007 (59), Guadalajara-2011 (58), Toronto-2015 (36), Lima-2019 (33) and Santiago-2023 (30), or that in this last appointment the accumulated was the lowest since Winnipeg-1967, and for the first time no collective sport was able to win, which had not happened since 1959.

So what kind of film will we see in the French capital? Quite simply, that of a colossal Cuban battle to shine on the world's main sports stage. It is not a romantic wish, although it will be more cumbersome than ever. Cuba has that aspiration because it has athletes of the highest level in several disciplines. The goal of the small but giant and indomitable island is to remain in the top 20, something that several developed nations cannot dream of, not even those that surpassed Cuba in the Central Caribbean and Pan American competitions.

The final stretch, from the first day of 2024, will demand, as in 2023, the contribution of science, knowledge and experiences that allowed us to be thrilled with what we have achieved.

When we look at 2023, to see 2024, José Ramón Fernández speaks to us again, with his concept of defending a purpose and not a prognosis. That is how it was done this year, and the predictions were surpassed.

Cuba already has 20 Olympic slots, but more than that number, which will grow much more, we are working, in a personalized way, with each of the possibilities of winning, prioritizing the attention of 15 of those classified, because they could sustain the goal. In Tokyo, with the smallest delegation to these events (69 athletes), the 14th place was achieved, with seven gold medals.

The 2024 shooting has already begun, from a present that has hours left to be past, but with the merit of having built a future.