Having more than twelve records, eight Paralympic and Parapan American gold medals, a family and only 30 years of age is not a problem for Cuban Omara Durand, who has been undefeated for almost a decade in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash in the visually impaired category. deep.
“I have had many beautiful, exciting moments, I have established more than 12 Paralympic and Parapan American records that weigh a lot, but that does not mean that I am satisfied or feel that I did everything in the sport,” the so-called “legend” assures in an interview with Efe. Cuban of the sprint”.
From the track where she trains daily at the Pan American Stadium in the capital and accompanied by her current guide, Yuniol Kindelán, she remembers that she started athletics at the age of seven, when she was in a special school for blind and visually impaired children in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.
The “good sense” of her then Physical Education teacher, the discipline and the training led her to consolidate a sports career whose international premiere came in 2007, in a championship in Sao Paulo (Brazil) where she won gold in the 100 and 200 Flat meters.
THE BEGINNINGS
Despite being one of the favorites at Beijing 2008, Omara left that competition without a medal due to injury. She then came to London 2012 when she won two gold medals in the 100 and 400 meter dash and began to forge the legend.
Her pregnancy took her away from racing until 2015, when she returned with Kindelán, architect along with Miriam -their trainer- of the champion’s brilliant career.
He, by her side during the interview, says that “it has been a job of great effort and sacrifice from the beginning”.
“It was something new for both of us, but despite the youth we have, we are quite serious about the job and we made an effort to do it well and we made an effort; and there are the results,” he says.
Their cooperation has been a successful run. Eight world titles and the last of them a new world record with a time of 23.02 seconds on a wet track at Tokyo 2020.
It has been a journey through the 100, 200 and 400 meter events at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, at the World Championships in Doha, London and Dubai, and at the Parapan American Games in Toronto and Lima.
As if that were not enough, she was chosen as the best disabled athlete of 2021 in Cuba, and is part of the Council of Athletes of the International Paralympic Committee until the next Olympic event in Paris 2024.
A NORMAL LIFE”
Despite everything, the Cuban Olympic champion says she leads a “normal” life and from her humility does not fully assume that she has made history in sports.
“I get up in the morning and the first thing I do is take care of my little girl and then I join the training,” says Omara, and specifies that she does this physical preparation with the full technical team and the rest of the speed athletes.
“Depending on the stage in which we are in training, we do a number of hours,” he remarks and then reiterates that he has a routine for “nothing extraordinary or out of the ordinary.”
A BREAK, NOT RETIREMENT
“This year I’m not going to compete because they gave me the opportunity to release the stress of competition,” says the athlete, who quickly clarifies: “it doesn’t mean my retirement, I’ve never stopped training.”
That break in the competitions will be until September when he will begin to “warm up” for the Parapan American Games in Santiago de Chile in 2023 and then with a view to qualifying for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Both Omara and Yuniol describe the moment before each start as “exciting and tense”, demanding “maximum” concentration.
“You train so much and you sacrifice so much all year to get there, knowing that it sums up everything you’ve fought so hard for. But you know it will go well, because the training went well,” she says.
These two young “out of league” athletes close confident that they will continue to train, give their all and once again show what they know how to do on the track.
