Cuban Olympic medalist Violeta Quesada dies at 76

The outstanding Cuban former sprinterVioleta Quesada He died this Sunday in Tampa, United States, as a result of a cerebral thromboembolism, confirmed former hurdler Lázaro Betancourt on his social networks.

It was former soccer player José Francisco Reinoso Zayas who expanded the information, saying that the outstanding athlete, silver medalist at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, was visiting the city where she died.

The journalist also recalled thatVioleta was born in Santa Clara on July 11, 1947. andHe started athletics at the age of 15. when he was studying at the Tecnológico Julián Griñán in Havana.

His most outstanding performance was achieved in the 1968 Mexico Olympics., by joining the silver medal-winning 4x100 meter quartet, along with Marlene Elejalde, Fulgencia Romay and Miguelina Cobián.

Quesada also gave outstanding performances at the V Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, where she won the gold medal with the short relay and triumphed over the American favorites.

Sports authorities on the island and sporting glories lamented the death of Violeta Quesada, among them the president of the Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER), Osvaldo Vento Montiller, who wrote in his account on the social network :

“We accompany in their pain the family and friends of Violeta Quesada, a member of the 4x100 meter relay that won silver for Cuba at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. Also a winner in other events, her death generates deep pain in Cuban sport.”

He also did it,Maria Caridad Colon, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and vice president of the Cuban Athletics Federation, and expressed that: “She was one of the essential ones in that generation that paved the way for achievements. Together with her colleagues from that post, she was an example to follow for all women who later continued to reap triumphs for our sport.”

Violeta Quesada, since 2005, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Confederation, taking into account its outstanding international results on the slopes.