«I keep everything life has given me. “It took away my ability to walk, but it offered me much more,” confesses Yunier Fernández as if in an unstoppable attack against the shadows of the past, for a point in favor of the light of his present and future.
He practiced baseball, judo, boxing, field tennis; but his table style “hooked him”, and Professor Martín supported him with the gaze of an expert, when he appreciated in him qualities of jumpability and resistance.
After passing through the Sports Initiation School (eide) and the Higher School of Athletic Improvement (espa), in eleventh grade he preferred to study in a pre-university school and passed the tests for the Physical Culture degree.
–Today we would have a teacher named Yunier Fernández?
–I wanted to specialize in soccer, because I liked it, even more than table tennis. The course lasted two years, but I missed six months. I jumped into a pool with low water level and suffered the accident that prevented me from walking. After rehabilitation I enrolled again, and I am now a graduate.
–Who encouraged you to continue in those moments?
–It was a very hard blow, at 20 years old. I led any group and my new condition affected me a little, but my family, my friends, supported me so I wouldn’t fall.
«At the Julito Díaz hospital they helped me move forward, with the greatest independence possible. I owe everything to the Revolution, because it created opportunities for integration. “I am a Fidelista, my mother instilled those feelings in me.”
–How much do you thank your first paratennis coach?
–All of him, Pedro Quintana, got me out of bed. When I lost in the Copa 4 de Abril, in Villa Clara, I was a little disappointed, but it encouraged me. Furthermore, my previous experience in the specialty made my job easier, since I had a foundation, I just needed to adapt.
–Let’s visit the Rio 2007 souvenir station, your international debut.
–I saw a great performance as a distant possibility, but in those Parapan American Games I won two silver medals, individually and in teams, and found the highest level closer. As a result of that, I dedicated myself fully, with more enthusiasm.
–How much patience did it take to touch the sky?
–After a fifth place in Beijing-2008, I was absent from the London-2012 and Rio-2016 Paralympics, due to a classification system that required participating in several competitions before the Games.
«But they changed the rules for athletes from America: participate in two tournaments and dominate the continental multi-sport event. Thus, the victories in Lima-2019 and Santiago-2023 allowed me to return to Tokyo-2020 and Paris-2024.
–What was missing for the gold auction?
–This year I had the best medical triad of my career. I had not worked in depth with a psychologist, and Anell Ruiz appeared, key to my result. On the other side of the moon is my coach and brother, Rieldis Ortega, who did not give up or stop encouraging me.
–You declared that you felt invincible after reaching the quarterfinals.
–In that round I was eliminated in previous events, I had a lot of pressure to overcome it. I had no predictions of winning, but when I passed that step, the world opened up to me.
–You didn’t retire at the top. Can we expect a lot of fighting yet?
–This activity is long lasting and, as long as I am in physical condition I will continue, because I want trophies that are missing, such as the World Championship, the Paracentral American Championship, and to retain the Paralympic title in Los Angeles.
–Tell us about your family and your neighborhood
–I matured after forging my family, accompanied by my mother, my sister, my niece, my wife, my children. My Taconera motivates me every day, and to bring happiness to that town.
–In Santiago you assured your wife: “I want the gold”, with as much determination as you asked for the flag after the feat in Paris. Do you love Cuba and your most precious triumphs with equal intensity?
–Here you see a 100% Cuban, my country is everything.
