The Cuban triple jumperJordan Diaz Fortun, naturalized Spanish last February, will be able to represent Spain in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As announced by the jumper on his social networks, World Athletics informed him that starting June 28, 2024, he will be able to compete for the Iberian country in international competitions.
"I will be able to fulfill my dream of representing Spain in the international championships, and that will coincide with the biggest one, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games," he said on Twitter.
Jordan stressed that now the training sessions will be even more exciting, and that the countdown to that long-awaited day has already begun.
"I can't stop thinking for a second about all the people who have supported and helped me along this path, since without them it would not have been possible. And finally, thank my family, my manager Suárez Bermúdez, my coach Ivan Pedroso , the entire Team Pedroso who will accompany me on this path, and the fans of Spanish and world athletics," he explained.
The decision of the World Athletics puts an end to the obstacles of the Cuban athlete, who last June, when he won his debut in the Diamond League in Paris, could not leave his mark for Spain, since theorganization considered that it was still competing under the Cuban flag and did not recognize his victory for the Spanish delegation.
At that time it was explained that World Athletics establishes that one must wait three years from the request for a change of nationality in order to recognize the triumph of an athlete in another country. Jordan has not competed with Cuba since September 2019.
In February 2022, with the support of the Spanish Athletics Federation, the youngreceived Spanish nationality by letter of nature in response to "exceptional circumstances".
Díaz Fortún has been training since the end of 2021 at theDream Team, under the orders oflegendary Cuban jumper Iván Pedroso, and to which Yulimar Rojas and Ana Peleteiro also belong, gold and bronze respectively in the women's triple jump at the Tokyo Olympics.
Born in Havana in 2001, Jordan left the Cuba team in July 2021, when he was going to compete in the Bislett Games in Oslo. He escaped at the Madrid airport and fled to Zaragoza, where he contacted Ana Peleteiro, who informed the Spanish authorities about him.
"People focus on sports, but that doesn't matter to me. The hard thing will be thatI might not be able to see my family for the next eight years.. And that's if I see them again. That's the hard part. Because I'm only 20 years old," he expressed when obtaining Spanish citizenship.
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