Yipsi Moreno, former Cuban athletics commissioner, who was dismissed by the state National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) days ago, He defended himself against his critics and assured that the problems of discipline and sports in general in Cuba are not his responsibility.
“The exodus of talents is blamed on me; the discus thrower Yaimé Pérez was disappointed, there had been problems with the delivery of her prizes for three seasons. That doesn’t happen to me, I was worried, but I don’t determine it,” he said about the most resounding escape that the delegation had as an official led the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, in the US, where the Island had its worst performance in history and It was without medals.
“Jordan Diaz, the triple jumper, could not improve his marks and look at the jumps he is making now. Did I plan his training? I was simply an administrative manager“, he indicated, referring to the triple jumper who stayed in Spain and has already set a national record in that country.
“Nobody talks about the historical moment that our sport is experiencing in terms of the exodus. Are representatives of athletics only those who have taken another course? The stampede of ballplayers, wrestlers, karate fighters, boxers, unconventional athletes (Paralympic) is it my fault too?”he pointed out, in an interview for the media CyberCuba.
Moreno questioned: “Who gives solutions to the problems of demotivation and answers without arguments? Yipsi, of course. Yipsi pays for the mistakes of those who do not analyze or seek her opinion as a directive or respect for the person in the process.”
Apart from the exodus of athletes, he said, “there is a lack of coaches with scientific preparation, tempered by the times in which they live, when sport is purely professional and is seen, in addition to entertainment, as a business.”
The former auctioneer also denied that she was a despot in office, a criterion extended after a video in which she is seen having a confrontation with athletes and family members went viral in 2021.
“Rude for a video that went against what was poorly done? Video manipulated and viralized by those who from athletics only intend to do their will, disrespect the regulations and initiate the bets of indiscipline and insubordination, lacking the morals of the principles of the Cuban sports movement,” he said.
According to the former commissioner, she He had presented his resignation since May 10 to the INDER authorities. “They tell me to remain in office until the end of the cycle, which would have been fulfilled in the NACAC championship in the Bahamas.”
“And it turns out that I came to find out about my substitution on television, surprisingly, when before they had not accepted my release”assured.
Regarding the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, he commented: “We went to this World Cup with the second smallest Cuban delegation to an event of this type, 14 athletes and an average age of 21 years old! 21 years old! And yes, it is the first time that the podium is not reached. Our great hope was the triple jumper Lázaro Martínez, who had beaten Pichardo twice, but when Pedro Pablo Pichardo, in his first attempt, jumped those extraordinary 17 meters 98 centimeters, Lazarito put pressure on himself, because he thought to reach gold and at that distance did not arrive And neither gold nor silver nor bronze”.
“I’m going to tell you something that very few know: The boys who went to the World Cup lost the last month of preparation, the most precious, because they had to return from Europe, since in Spain we did not have access to visas from the United States. Of course, this represented a colossal delay, because training in the Pan American Stadium is not the same as preparing and competing in the Old Continent.
“Foreseeing the visa situation with the United States, I had requested the process from INDER’s International Relations since March and they told me no, to do it in Spain. Tell me, is it my fault too?” she pointed out.
Moreno said that she does not rule out becoming a coach, but for the moment “What I want is to detox myself from so much stress and so many disappointments; forgetting what it means to go from being a loved and respected person to another hated and despised is hard, very hard! (…) Whoever thinks he buried me alive… was wrong!”