Jhoen Lefont Rodríguez

Former player of the water polo team of Matanzas, Cuba. He set an unprecedented world record by connecting 183 touches to the sphere in one minute, using only his head.

Guinness record holder in ball mastery, 1503 touches to the sphere in the water (floating).

His first sport was swimming, which he began in primary school in the province of Matanzas. Three years later he moved to water polo, where he would begin to distinguish himself after making good demonstrations that would eventually lead him, over time, to the national team.

Today Jhoen Lefont remains connected to water, although for some time he has not dedicated himself to swimming or water polo. He found a mission in transferring ball mastery techniques to the water and has become a well-known figure in Cuban sports. His records, endorsed by the Guinness Book of Records, make him feel proud and encourage him to work harder every day to develop his skills.

When he began to practice this sport, he did it as a hobby, it was a pastime. Today he sees things differently.

In 2011 he had the great pleasure of writing his diploma thesis on the History of Ball Mastery in Cuba. He believes that from the study he conducted he was able to better understand the effort and dedication required to achieve a world record. He is convinced that his results are largely due to the knowledge acquired from figures like Douglas and Erick Hernández, pioneers of this discipline in the country.

In April 2012 he made 1203 touches to the ball with his head from the water. In 2013 his second Guinness certificate came after achieving 1,503 headers to the sphere and he was selected as the best athlete in Cuba in the special sports category. Later, in 2014, he achieved a record with added weight and was also included among the most outstanding in the Island.

"This sport requires a lot of sacrifice and the matter of records is not an easy thing," says the athlete from Matanzas. In 2015, non-sporting issues kept him somewhat away from the pools, but it didn't take long to see Lefont shine again and again.

"I tried to surpass the 1,503 touches in 2016. It was one of the unforgettable moments. A cold front had come in and the temperature and wind played heavily against me. I remember that the people present there surrounded the edge of the pool to prevent the air from hitting me directly.

"All of that influenced my concentration and I miscounted, but fortunately the mark improved by ten touches, although I thought I had passed 1,700," recalls the record holder and adds that all the important evidence was collected, which ultimately resulted in his third Guinness certificate."

The following year he set a record for the longest time keeping the ball balanced on his head, which was not ratified because the pool did not have sufficient depth. "That year I was not happy, because the marks that could have been Guinness were not achieved due to our mistakes," explains Lefont.

When asked what is needed to do ball mastery in the water, he responds that "several things, but I think it is fundamental to train from a young age. It becomes very difficult for someone to come and break a record as can happen on land."

For Lefont it is necessary that ball mastery acquire a higher status, as it is not easy to achieve as many recognitions and records as Cuban ball masters do.

"We are trying to have more importance, but we are the ones who organize the events and if we had more support everything would be better. I have thought about quitting, but I haven't, because first of all I like what I do and there is family behind it, which always gives you the strength to keep going."

In August 2018 the football dolphin splashed records at the Meliá Cohíba hotel after breaking two records in the same day, after hitting the ball 1,664 times and achieving 162 hits in one minute.

But, as if that were not enough, in November he also experienced another day of double records at the Baraguá pool complex. There he set two new marks after swimming 50 meters with the ball balanced on his head in 1:16:44 minutes and covering 325 meters without dropping it in the water.

In this way, the athlete from Matanzas thinks about new Guinness records and continues in his effort to establish himself as one of the most recognized athletes in the discipline.