14ymedio, Havana, 12 April 2024 — “Here, I am valued as an athlete; in Cuba I had no opportunities.” This is what the triple jumper Jordan Díaz Fortún (“Air Jordan”) said about his departure from the Island in 2021, in an interview published this Friday by El Español. The athlete hopes, next June, to have the permission of the governing body of athletics, World Athletics, to compete for Spain at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Díaz regretted that sports on the Island is managed “around politics,” and they do not understand that he left in order to improve. “If I see that I’m not doing well in one place, I try to improve my future. I can’t be in prison, as they say. No, not that,” he stressed to El Español.
In 2022, the athlete told El País that the “Cuban sports system is so complicated that they almost force valuable athletes to leave in a stampede.” In his case, he saw that the results he obtained were not recognized. “There comes a time when an athlete needs a stimulus, which was something that a person like me, with the level I have, did not receive.”
“There comes a time when an athlete needs a stimulus, which was something that a person like me, with the level I have, did not receive”
The athlete’s statements coincided that year with Cuba’s worst performance in the World Athletics Championships. “For the first time in the 18 versions of these tournaments, the Largest of the Antilles leaves without medals,” said Cubadebate.
With his departure, which took place in the Spanish city of Castellón three years ago, Díaz not only separated from his family, which he has not bee
