Silver and bronze for Cuban jumpers Echevarria and Massó in Tokyo 2020

August 2, 2021

When Juan Miguel Echevarría felt that his hamstring injury prevented him from jumping for the sixth time, he knelt right on the takeoff board and struck the ground with his fists. "I cried but not out of joy for the silver medal -he says- but out of the pain of losing the gold."

Just five minutes earlier Juan Miguel was about to become Olympic champion. He came to the final jump as the leader of a modest competition, in which his jump of 8.41m seemed enough for the title. And in fact it was the winning mark, but the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou equaled it in the final attempt and took him from the top thanks to a better second result.

It all happened at the end of the competition. The European, leader of the year, against the Caribbean native, number one in the rankings. Such is sport, some will say. In Sydney 2000 Cuba got to enjoy it with that final jump by Iván.

Today it was Pedroso's turn to be in the stands cheering on Juan Miguel, and also on a Maikel Massó winner of a bronze medal that will go down in history. Only on two previous occasions had Cuba enjoyed more than one Olympic medal in the same event: in 1996 with swimmers Rodolfo Falcón and Neisser Bent, and in 2004 with hammer throwers Yipsi Moreno and Yunaika Crawford.

This third time came marked by the surprise of Maikel, owner of an 8.21m in his first attempt that put him on the podium. From that moment on it never left him, although a strain in his right leg also quickly took him out of competition.

"This medal marks an important step. Next year a different Massó will come. It's an incredible sensation and I had never felt like this before. I hope for better things in the future," he assured.

In a closely fought final, Massó decided not to make his four remaining jumps and dedicated himself to watching Juan Miguel. When it ended both hugged each other next to the sand pit that saw them achieve success.

"In each attempt I gave my best -Juan Miguel assures- although really the jump where I bet the least was the 8.41m one. However, from the moment I saw the competition I knew that the Greek was the only one who could jump farther than that, and in the end he equaled my mark."

"It hurts my life, my soul, my leg. Everything hurts. I made the maximum effort as long as I could. I dreamed so much of Cuba at the top of the podium that now I feel like I lost. The defeat weighs on me more than the silver medal," confesses the runner-up.

It is a sensation that many have now, because of the heat of the moment and because this title was really possible, but it could not be. But within a few hours, tomorrow, the day after, one will have to also think about how much those Olympic medals around the necks of two young people who are not even 22 years old mean for the present and for the future.