Cuban sport is once again in mourning. This Monday it was learned of the death of Lázaro Beltrán, outstanding member of the national volleyball team during the 1980s and 1990s.
His death has shocked the family of volleyball on the island, which says goodbye to one of the most loved and respected athletes of his generation.
Beltrán was part of one of the golden stages of Cuban volleyballin which the island won important international titles.
He was champion of the World Cup held in Japan in 1989, world runner-up in 1990 and silver medalist in the first edition of the World League, in 1991. In addition, he was part of the team that achieved fourth place at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
For years he had lived in the United States, where he had a career as a coach.
Lázaro Beltrán and Cuban volleyball
Beltrán’s career included an outstanding participation in the Pan American Games, where he won gold in Havana 1991 and silver in Caracas 1983 and Indianapolis 1987.
At the regional level, he was two-time Central American champion, after obtaining titles in 1986 and 1993.
“One of the good ones has said goodbye to us, as an athlete and as a person,” his teammates lamented, remembering him as an exemplary athlete and an upright human being who marked generations.
The prominent sports commentator René Navarro wrote on Facebook: “A very stellar athlete and person. Communicative, happy, simple and respectful. Holder of the best international results in our national teams.”
According to the official records of the Olympic Committee, Lázaro Beltrán was key in the achievements of the Cuban team during a period of splendor of national volleyball.
During those years he shared with other transcendental figures of the high mesh sport on the island, such as Joel Despaigne, Idalberto Valdés, Raul Diago and he also died Abel Sarmientos.
