The Cuban pole vaulter Yarisley Silvathe first Latin American to win an Olympic dam in that specialty, decided to put an end to her successful sports career, according to independent media reports.
According to a note published on the specialized site deporcubathe award-winning athlete would have communicated the decision to the journalist Lilian Cid, although so far neither the Cuban athletics authorities nor the official media on the island have confirmed the news.
At the same time, deporcuba He regrets the decision and considers that, although foreseeable, the outcome could have been “in a different way”, although he does not provide more details about the reasons that could have led Silva to permanently withdraw from the sport.
Yarisley Silva has decided to end his sports career. Although it is rare to say goodbye to him, we can only thank him for his trajectory and the lessons of perseverance that he has given us.
Successes always champion. Thank you very, very much ☹️??https://t.co/qJp3mciJdQ
– Deporcuba (@deporcuba) June 11, 2022
Without confirming or denying what was reported, Yarisley thanked the journalist for the publication.
“Thank you Lilian, thank you for that wonderful person and for being one of those journalists who never talk about destroying athletes,” the pole vaulter wrote in a comment to Cid’s post, in which she also thanked him for “the support and contribution to the athletes from Cuba and more to the people of athletics”.
Thus, Yarisley Silva would not be participating in the next edition of the Memorial Barrientos de athleticsscheduled for next weekend in Havana, and neither in the World Championship that will host the US city of Eugene next July.
Yarisley’s farewell would put an end to the convulsive stage experienced by the athlete and her coach, Alexander Navas, as a result of her absence from the last Indoor World Cup held in March in Belgrade, Serbia. So, the London 2012 Olympic runner-up could not count on her poles to compete, because due to visa problems she had had to return to Havana without them before returning to Europe for the World Cup.
“(The poles) were going to be sent directly from Spain, but the member of the Federation in charge of moving them tested positive for COVID-19 and had to stay in Spain. Yarisley Silva’s supplies could not be shipped and, although efforts were made to get them through other channels, the problem could not be resolved “, pointed out at that time the national athletics commissioner, Yipsi Moreno.
In the midst of this situation, several independent media reported that both the athlete and her coach had requested to be dropped from the Cuban athletics teamsomething that was not confirmed then officially by the parties involved in the matter.
At the end of last May, Yarisley herself assured in an interview with the official site Cubadebate that she was back in training, and publicly exposed the reasons that led her to make the decision to absent herself from the Indoor World Cup.
Cuban Athletics: Yarisley Silva confirms that he is back to the national team
“Twenty days ago I joined training at the Pan American Stadium in Havana. I have just started the technique, although all this time I have kept working on the physical part. I am preparing to participate in some stop of the Diamond League and in the month of July in the outdoor world championship, in the United States,” the athlete said then, quoted by the official media.
If what was announced by the deporcuba, the decision would mark the farewell to the active sport of the woman who put Latin America for the first time on an Olympic pole vault podium. Throughout her successful career, Silva has won the indoor world title in Sopot 2014 and the outdoor world title in Beijing 2015, as well as bronze medals at that level in Moscow 2013 and London 2017.
The native of Pinar del Río also won the title in three consecutive Pan American Games (Guadalajara 2011, Toronto 2015 and Lima 2019), as well as two titles in the Central American and Caribbean Games (Veracruz 2014 and Barranquilla 2018).
Yarisley Silva would also say goodbye with the cuban records pole vault outdoors (4.91) and indoors (4.82) and the merit of finishing among the best eight in the Olympic events in London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
