Athlete Yulenmis Aguilar: "Spain opened doors for me that were closed to me in Cuba"

The Cuban JavelinistYulenmis Aguilar, who was expelled from the national team almost six years ago, assured that Spain opened doors for her that were closed to her in her country.

Yulenmis, who has just received Spanish nationality by letter of nature,will be able to compete in the Paris Olympic Games representing the European country.

In an interview granted to the agencyWHICH, the 27-year-old stated that she loves Spain as much as she loved Cuba sportingly at the time.

"I even love Spain a little more because it has opened doors that were closed to me in Cuba, since they left me out of the national team without any explanation. If they didn't want me to represent them, in Spain I have found affection," he stressed. .

The athlete continues to go on vacation to the Island, where his wife and entire family remain.

"I have my residence in Spain. I am not like other athletes who dropped out. I can enter and leave. I came with a work permit," he clarified.

Aguilar resides in the municipality of Oleiros, located in the province of La Coruña, in Galicia, where "I have the beach, the mountains and I am fine."

His coach is the veteran Raimundo Fernández, who helps him perfect his technique and achieve optimal physical shape, after a year without competing due to injuries and suffering from depression.

"Raimundo is like a father, he opened his house to me, he fed me and he has supported me from the first moment," he stressed.

This year the Cuban has only had one official competition, the Spanish Championship, where she reached 63.90 meters with her javelin. At this moment that is the best world mark of the year, but that does not put pressure on him for the Olympics.

"The marks are relative, even if I went to the Games with 70 meters. The sport is moved by emotions, weather, moments... We are 36 athletes who are going to participate and in the final there will be only eight. Everyone prepares the Games the same than me and it is difficult to talk about a favorite for a medal. The results are there, so is the work and the possibility of a medal is real but it also depends on many things," he explained.

The athlete arrived in Spain at the end of December 2020 with a visa valid until 2024.

Born in Bayamo in 1996, she has not represented Cuba in an Athletics tournament since the Central American Championships in Barranquilla (Colombia) in 2018, where she took bronze. It was then that the Cuban authorities removed her from the national team.

"They called me and told me that they didn't count on me for the next season and I decided to leave," he said on one occasion.

In 2021 he competed in eight competitions, six in Spain and two in Portugal, of which he won seven.

In 2022He surpassed all his previous marks by reaching 64.17 meters in the Spanish Championships outdoor in Nerja, Malaga. It was then when the relationship with the Spanish Athletics Federation began.