The Cuban regime demanded the "immediate expulsion" of Olympic canoeing champion Fernando Dayán Jorge from the refugee team that will attend the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Fernando Dayán, who left a Cuban delegation in Mexico in 2022 and currently resides in Miami, is part of the Olympic Refugee Team (EOR) alongside his compatriot Ramiro Mora Romero, a weightlifter with multiple records who lives in London.
The Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) claims that both were unjustly included and accuses the EOR of falsely portraying them as athletes "uprooted by war or persecution."
The Cuban agency assures that it has been in communication with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to clarify what they consider a "regrettable situation."
"The decision to include Cuban athletes in the EOR was made behind the back of the Cuban Olympic Committee and with the clear objective of attacking the image of the national sports movement, which has brought so much glory to our people," states the statement.
Cuba affirms that it has nothing against athletes and coaches who live or develop their careers in other countries competing in the Olympics representing those countries.
"One of the two athletes now included in the EOR has made disrespectful and false political statements against his country, his people, and the sports movement that allowed him to be an Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020," the text states, referring to Fernando Dayán.
For the government, the athlete's stance reveals the true political motivation behind their inclusion in the refugee team.
"It's a violation of the Olympic Charter and the rules set by the IOC for all athletes participating in the Olympic Games," said Cuba, which demands their immediate expulsion.
"The COC reiterates its strongest rejection of the inclusion of Cuban athletes in the EOR, as part of the political manipulation of sports," he emphasized.
The canoeist Fernando Dayán Jorge, who illegally entered the United States through the southern border, said last year from Miami that "it's very sad to know that you cannot fulfill your dream in the place where you are born."
"There were many moments when I was disappointed, when I did not agree with the things that were happening," he emphasized.
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