# Yipsi Moreno will return to compete in a World Athletics Championship, without wearing Cuba's colors

**Date:** 09/07/2025

The historic hammer thrower Yipsi Moreno, 45 years old, will return to the international scene at the next World Athletics Championship, but not with Cuba's flag, but under the colors of Albania.


The announcement was made by Global Athletics Hub on X, recalling that the athlete was Olympic champion in Beijing 2008 and three-time world champion (2001, 2003, and 2005) when she competed for the Island.


The athlete from Camagüey will attend the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championship under the Albanian flag, thanks to a universality spot granted by World Athletics (WA), the governing body of athletics worldwide.


According to the specialized portal DeporCuba, this mechanism allows the participation of countries with low representation in world championships to offer additional spots to athletes with a relevant record, even if they have not achieved the minimum qualifying standard.


From Cuban idol to figure in Europe
The Cuban's return to active sport occurred in June of last year, when she won gold medals in hammer throw and discus at the Albania Cup.


Despite being away from competitions for 10 years, she displayed magnificent physical form at that local event.



 



Just two months earlier, Yipsi reappeared in Europe with her family.


In April 2024, it was reported that the athlete lives in Albania with her husband and her son, after having shared images taken in the municipality of Belsh on Facebook.


Her move to Europe marked a radical shift in her trajectory, not only in sports but also symbolically: Moreno was for years a figure closely linked to Cuban officialism, defending the regime and holding positions of political responsibility.


Less than two years earlier, when she still lived in Cuba, she said that many athletes who emigrate later regret it because "the moment comes when the money they earn in foreign clubs is not enough for them".


From sports power to political fall
After retiring from active sports, in 2018 Yipsi was appointed president of Cuba's National Track and Field Commission.


Her management, however, was marked by poor international results and controversy: in 2022 a video came to light in which she was heard verbally assaulting ESPA students, which sparked strong criticism.


That same year she was relieved of her position "by personal will", although she admitted finding out about her replacement "on television".


The fall of her influence was not limited to sports.


In 2023, Moreno was excluded from the Council of State and lost her seat in the National Assembly of People's Power, which also marked the end of her brief foray into the island's institutional politics.


A new beginning in Albania
Far from Cuba and her old political life, Yipsi Moreno seems to have found in Albania a new space to relaunch her sports career.


The announcement that she will compete in the World Championship under that flag not only surprises because of her age, 45 years old, but reopens the conversation about the fate of many Cuban athletes who, after years of service to official sports, end up emigrating and seeking new opportunities in foreign settings.


The Olympic champion thus joins the list of Cuban stars who change countries and continue competing, although in her case with the added fact of having been at one time a symbolic figure of the Cuban sports and political apparatus.


Her participation in the World Championship with Albania will be watched closely both by the international athletics community and by Cuban fans, who now see how one of their most recognized sports glories will represent another nation in the final stretch of her career.