Enrique Figuerola Camué

Olympic runner-up, Champion of the Central American and Caribbean Games and the Pan American Games. He headed the national ranking in 100 and 200 meters for 10 years, setting 29 absolute national records. He is considered the most outstanding Cuban athlete of the period between 1961 and 1971.

He was the first Cuban athlete to equal a world record in 100 meters, the first Cuban in the history of the Olympic Games to win a medal in his specialty, and one of the 100 best Cuban athletes of the 20th century.

With the nickname El Fígaro, Figuerola began at age 10 in Baseball, practicing this sport in his free time. Due to the great speed he displayed during this sport's practices in his childhood, he was recommended to practice athletics, and he did. At 14 years old, he ran for the first time in an officially organized competition and finished in third place.

At 17 years old, he enrolled in Technical Middle School in Industrial Electricity at the School of Arts and Trades in his hometown, and at 18 he represented the school in speed competitions in which he was victorious, winning easily.

In 1958 he moved to La Habana where he continued his studies in that specialty, graduating in 1960.

He was the first Olympic medalist in Cuban sports after the triumph of the Revolution. Although his physique was nothing extraordinary, specialists considered the Santiago runner of the 100 meters to be an exceptional figure, since his 1.67 meters in height and 63 kilograms in weight were far from the ideal physique for a sprinter.

However, he polished his technique to the maximum and possessed one of the best starts of all time, and what was essential in him was that he was a man of extraordinary will, dedication, rigor, and courage.

His first medal, silver, he obtained in the National Baseball Championship in the position he played, shortstop. His first coach José (Pepe) del Cabo Lesseps insisted on him competing in some provincial athletic competitions because he always saw good conditions in him to be a runner. He competed in 100 and 200 meters and triumphed. It was a revelation according to those who saw him run that day.

From the beginning of his athletics practice, he stood out for rigorous discipline in his individual training, a high level of concentration and relaxation at the moment of the start, which led him to never make a false start throughout his sports career.

Thanks to the rigor of his training, Figuerola managed to run 26 times with a time of 10.02 seconds, five times with a time of 10.01 seconds, and twice with a time of 10.00 seconds flat. Something very relevant in his style is that he never—not even in training—had a false start.

His first major presentation was at the Olympic Games held in Rome, Italy, in 1960, although he had already participated successfully in Central American and Pan American events. In Rome, Figuerola finished in fourth place, which 56 years before "El Andarín" Carvajal achieved in the marathon race at the St. Louis Olympics, with a time of 10.44 minutes.

He was a finalist in three Olympic Games, Olympic Runner-up at the XVIII Tokyo Games in 1964, becoming the first Olympic medalist in Cuban Athletics after a hard-fought battle with American Bob Hayes, who, unlike Figuerola, had long limbs and a massive physique. Figuerola had to do everything right to compete, with an Olympic and world record of exactly ten seconds, while Figuerola came in with a time of 10.2, displacing Canadian Harry Jerome who recorded a time of 10.3.

El Fígaro also won gold medals at Central American and Caribbean Games, Pan American Sports Games, and World University Games.

Thus, at the IV continental sports games held in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo in 1963, he achieved the Gold Medal with a time of 10.3. At the world university event held in Budapest, Hungary, on June 17, 1967, he equaled the world record of the time, exactly 10 seconds on the clay track of the Neps Stadium.

His third and final participation in Olympic Games occurred in Mexico City in 1968 where he joined efforts with other outstanding figures of athletics in Cuba, including Hermes Ramírez, Pablo Montes, and Juan Morales, making up the 4 x 100m relay in the XIX Olympic Games, an event in which he achieved a silver medal with a time of 38.40 minutes, for a national record, becoming one of the first Olympic medalists in Cuban relays.

In the annual rankings prepared by the International Association of Athletics Statistics (ATFG), he classified among the top ten in the world:

1960 seventh place
1963 second place
1964 second place
1965 eighth place
1966 third place
1967 eighth place.

He competed for 13 years. His results led him to be selected on six occasions as "Best Athlete of the Year in Cuba," Best in Latin America in 1964 and 1967 according to the annual survey by the Prensa Latina news agency.

Sports Results
1959

Silver Pan American Sports Games, Chicago, United States
1960

Gold 100m José Barrientos Memorial La Habana, Cuba
Gold 100m Bilateral Match Cuba - Venezuela, La Habana
Silver 200m, 4x100m relay, 4th place 100m Olympic Games, Rome, Italy
1961

International Meeting Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia Gold 100m, 4x100 Relay
Gold 100m International Meeting Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Gold 100m, 200m Kuzocinski Memorial, Warsaw, Poland
Gold 100m International Meeting Budapest, Hungary
Gold 100m II Universiade Sofia, Bulgaria
I Latin American University Games, La Habana, Cuba Gold 100m, 4x100 Relay
1963

Gold 100m IV Pan American Sports Games, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Gold 100m Rosicky in Memoriam, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Gold 100m International Meeting Hradec Kralove, Czechoslovakia
Gold 100m Leipzip Sports Festival, German Democratic Republic
Gold 100m III Universiade Porto Alegre, Brazil
Gold 100m International Sports Week, Tokyo, Japan
1964

Silver 100m Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan
Gold 100m José Barrientos Memorial, La Habana, Cuba
Gold 100m International Meeting Tartu, USSR
Gold 100m Znamensky Memorial, Moscow, USSR
Gold 100 yd flat National AAA Championship London, England
Gold International Meeting Siena, Italy
Gold Kuzonski Memorial Warsaw, Poland
1965

Silver 100m International Meeting Helsinki, Finland
Gold 100m Hermanos Znamensky Memorial Minsk, USSR
Gold 100yd National AAA Championship London, Great Britain
Gold 100m, Gold 200m International Meeting Siena, Italy
Gold 100 and 200m International Meeting Grosetto, Italy
1966

Gold 100m, 200m, 4x100 Relay José Barrientos Memorial
Gold 100m Central American and Caribbean Games, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1967

Gold 100m José Barrientos Memorial, La Habana, Cuba
Gold 100m International Meeting Leipzig, German Democratic Republic
Gold 100m International Meeting Regis Britingen, German Democratic Republic
Gold 100m, 200m International Meeting Siena, Italy
Gold 100m International Meeting Grosetto, Italy
Gold 100m International Meeting Budapest, Hungary
1968

Silver 4x100m Relay José Barrientos Memorial, La Habana, Cuba
Silver 100m and 4x100 Relay Mericamp Memorial, Paris, France
Silver 100m International Meeting Budapest, Hungary
Gold 4x100 Relay Kuzocinski Memorial, Warsaw, Poland
Gold 4x100 Relay Pierre Bonnenfant Memorial, Paris, France
Silver 4x100 Relay Olympic Games, Mexico City, Mexico
Honors Received
Trophy as Most Outstanding Athlete of the 1960s Decade
Certificate of Recognition as Founding Member of the IAAF
Order of Sporting Merit
José M. Mendive Medal for 25 Years of Work in the Union of Education and Science Workers
75th Anniversary IAAF Medal
Distinction Martyrs of Barbados
Selected by the people among the 100 best Cuban athletes of the 20th century.