When the Olympic and Paralympic delegations to Paris-2024 received the national banner from the hands of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, last July 9, at the Revolution Square , in the light of the Maestro José Martí, it was not only a group of athletes, but also Cuba.
Today, in the hands of the parathletes, the national flag arrives to its people, as it did before, on the 12th, in the hands of the athletes, to deliver it victorious, with the mission accomplished by the children of a small but giant Island.
Mijaín López and Idalys Ortiz brought her in their champion arms, he with his fifth laurels, becoming a symbol of world sport, the only one with five crowns in an individual sport. She, awarded by her people, because, although she did not stand on the podium, because she did not need to, she left on the tatami the mark of a Spartan woman, the one who only feels fulfilled with the shield or on it.
Today, Omara Durand, brings her back, awarded with her 11 gold medals, with the seal of her farewell to the tracks, and with the example of resistance and victory of the Cuban woman, fidelista, as she says proudly and at the top of her lungs. A champion never retires from these qualities. She carries it with Robiel Yankiel Sol, who flew again like a golden grasshopper for his second golden parchment.
He was, on September 3, the first champion of the Paralympic delegation in the City of Light, and she, on September 7, the one who was in charge of closing the golden path of her country, also with the 80th medal of Parathletics in the history of these events, the sport with the most podiums in Cuba.
The two flag-bearers made, with their triumphs and with that magical parallel, medalists to each of their fellow delegation members, to all 21, since all of them were the expression of a country that has raised a monument to rights.
Cuba vibrated again with the courage of Yunier Fernandez, and with the powerful javelin throw of Guillermo Varona. The table paratriathlon put that sport in the Cuban medal list of these events for the first time, as did Pablo Ramírez, in the paragliding, in the power modality; and also, for the first time, the largest of the Antilles climbs to the table of preseasons in four sports.
Today the Homeland opens its arms to reward them for so much dedication, for the emotions that overflowed in their people, for the healthy pride of knowing that they are faithful Cubans; for teaching us that dreams come true, that effort is rewarded and that hope exists.
Today is a day of celebration, because when the father, the mother, the husband, the daughter or the son, enters his house with his chest swollen by the mission accomplished, Cuba will also have entered to give the families of the para-sportsmen the honor of the gold medal.
