Alberto Juantorena. Photo: EFE/Lavandeira Jr./File
Alberto Juantorenatwo-time Olympic champion and legendary figure of Cuban sports, is hospitalized in serious condition at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine in Havana with symptoms of bronchopneumonia and cardiovascular decompensation, reported national media.
A tweet from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel referred to the state of the former athlete: “Today, he and the doctors are fighting for his life and Cuba hopes that they will also succeed. Health, champion », and he specifies the information published at night that he is reported as a stable critic.
Juantorena, 71, is cared for by a multidisciplinary team, “he has a history of COVID-19 acquired abroad, from which complications consisting of bronchopneumonia and cardiovascular decompensation have arisen.”
40 years ago, when Alberto Juantorena “with his heart” and his legs, had shaken #Cuba with two Olympic titles, he repeated the feat in Habana’82. Today, he and the doctors are fighting for his life and #Cuba hope they succeed too. Health champion. pic.twitter.com/eUwVeV9SIw
– Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) August 13, 2022
“The elegant of the tracks”, as he was nicknamed during his sports career due to his style, is the only athlete in history who has been an Olympic champion in the 400 and 800 meters (both in Montreal ’76). In 2003 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Central American and Caribbean Confederation of Athletics, while since 2012 he is part of the Hall of Fame of the International Federation of that discipline.
