“You Have to be a Warrior Right to the End”

Cuban Taekwondo fighter Yamicel Núñez provided another magical night for Cuba winning a bronze medal at the XVII Pan Am Games on Monday, July 20. Her bout against Canadian Evelyn Gonda was a spectacular display and a close finish.

It seems that the Cuban fighters have to work very hard to win Taekwondo medals, because almost the same thing happened to Yania Aguirre on Sunday. Aguirre won her gold medal literally in the last second of the match.

Núñez, a bronze medal winner from the World Championship in Puebla 2013 and silver medallist in Veracruz in 2014, agreed to share a few words with the Cuban press as she came off the mat. Still breathless from her enormous effort she said, “I knew the crowd would not be on my side but I decided, being Cuban, to put everything into it right to the end,  knowing that the fight will not be over till the very last second.”

Asked how an athlete should react when being at a disadvantage in a deciding match, with most of the crowd against you, the native of Granma province said, “You have to close your ears and focus on the goals you want to achieve. You have to be a warrior right to the end.”

“The fight against the American (Cheyenne Lewis) that kept me from continuing on the road to gold was difficult because she is taller than me. She also hit me with a technique I hadn’t trained for. That affects you a lot psychologically,” she said.

Núñez said without hesitating that her aspiration for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero in 2016 is “a medal.” For that she needs “more fights with opponents from other countries, more practice and more competitions,” she added.

Asked for her thoughts at a time of such great euphoria, Yamicel said, “I am thinking about my country, my family and my parents who I love so much and promised a medal of one colour or another.”