When in the Olympic Games Moskow'80 she became
the first Latin-american woman to ever win a gold medal in such
a high level competition, a Spanish journalist wrote that that
afternoon at the Lenin Stadium, the Cuban seemed a lioness running
away from her cage.
That beautiful young brunette woman, in her 22 vigorous years,
was able to challenge and defeat, with the first throw of the
javelin (68.40 meters), the favorite Ruth Fush, from the former
German Democratic Republic.
Being born in Baracoa, in Cuba's easternmost province, she went
up very fast from her debut in 1975 and three years after that
she won the gold medal (63.40 meters) in the Central American
and Caribbean Games of Medellín.
The following year, in the Pan-american Games of San Juan, Puerto
Rico, she was also first and established a record for this kind
of tournament (62.30 meters).
She started the next Olympic cycle with the gold medal of the
Central American and Caribbean Games of Havana in 1982 after
the birth of his son Angel Ruslan. In the continental games
of Caracas'83 she crowned herself again.
Success was always by her side, and she stills regrets not having
been chosen to participate in the Pan-american games Havana'91.
She just could not accept it. She was not psychologically prepared
to face the inevitable good-bye to javelin. After that she has
had several responsibilities in the National Sport Institute
(INDER).