The Cuban volleyball player Ailama Cesé claimed to be proud of the color of her skin, in response to the racist offense made against her by the coach of a rival team during the Russian Super League final.
Cesé, who plays for the Uralochka NTMK club, said that “I like my color and I am proud to wear it on my skin”, after hearing the statements of the Russian coach Andrei Voronkov, of Lokomotiv Kaliningrad.
Given the outstanding performance of the Cuban, Voronkov questioned his players and, in particular, the one in charge of stopping Cesé’s attacks. “Why aren’t you catching her again? Why aren’t you catching that monkey again?” Were the words of the coach during a technical time of the game.
Andrei Voronkov, Lokomotiv technician calling on Cuban player Ailama Cese Montalvo to play Uralochka-NTMK for “macaca” during a time break.
The Uralochka club said that it was unacceptable and demanded an apology. pic.twitter.com/ZtPbgDyRsp
– Volei Links ? (@VoleiLinks) May 13, 2022
After the meeting, the Cuban was notified of the offenses against her, to which she then responded without losing her composure. She said that she saw the video with Voronkov’s racist statements and pointed out that her words only show her lack of professional ethics.
«I like people for what they have in their hearts and for what they are capable of transmitting in everything they do; not because of their skin color, nationality or whatever,” Cesé remarked.
«The words he expressed against me do not affect me at all because the problem is him as a person, who cannot control his insatiable ego, that to achieve a result he has to offend someone. That just shows how few values he has and how unethical he is,” he added.
The athlete, who is fulfilling a professional contract in the Russian league, added that “it would not make me better to be a human being to return evil for evil, in addition to the fact that I do not allow myself to lower myself to such a level, I am much more than that. I am left with the satisfaction that, even being offended by this gentleman, she could not make me break down, nor stop me from doing my job, nor stop me in the match».
«I am happy for what I have achieved to this day and for the person I am, just for moments like these that instead of causing unpleasant feelings in me, I take them as opportunities for my personal growth. I mentally beat him in that final and today with this writing I do it again because I know that my heart has grown by not returning hate to the one who hated me, “he pointed out.
The Cuban thanked the shows of support received and, in particular, those of her team, which has already demanded an apology from the opposing coach for his racist statements.
For his part, the Secretary of the Russian Volleyball Federation said that, after the incident, they were “finding out the position of the clubs, athletes and coaches.”
So far, no message from Voronkov after his offenses has been known, nor has there been a statement from the Cuban Volleyball Federation about the unfortunate event.
