With a service record full of glory, the Cuban naturalized Portuguese Pedro Pablo Pichardo can be classified as one of the best triple jumpers in the history of world athletics.
His record supports him: Olympic gold (Tokyo 2020), two-time world champion (Eugene 2022 and Belgrade indoor 2022), European champion (Munich 2022), and double continental indoor champion (Torun 2021 and Istanbul 2023).
Pichardo was competitive in representing his hometown and starred in high-profile duels with another legend of the specialty: the American Christian Taylor, a two-time Olympic champion in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Precisely, the Santiago native will try to emulate the American in Paris 2024, as he aims for his second consecutive crown, although the outlook seems challenging due to the new generation of jumpers that is coming up.
At 31 years old, the Portuguese lost a few weeks ago to his compatriot who is a naturalized Spaniard, Jordan Díaz, in the European Championship. The competition sparked fireworks between them, to the point that they had a confrontation in the dining room of the athletes' village and then on social media.
On June 11, Díaz, just 23 years old, reached 18.18 meters to win the gold medal, breaking Spanish and continental records, as well as achieving the third-best mark of all time, falling just 11 centimeters short of the world record held by the British Jonathan Edwards.
However, the competition was extremely competitive, as the Portuguese athlete scored 18.04 to take the silver medal, but no one expected his stance on the validity of the winner's result.
In an extensive post on Instagram, Pichardo publicly expressed his doubt about Díaz's jump and asked: "Why did the electronic rule turn off at that moment? How do we know it was really 18.18 meters?"
The Olympic and world monarch expressed that he "would like European Athletics, World Athletics, and the judges in charge to provide a prompt response and clarification regarding what happened in the pit at the moment when the athlete from Spain made that great mark."
He continued: "In a competition of that level, it's not normal to achieve a great mark with the electronic timing turned off."
Similarly, he reported that his rival came out "celebrating without even realizing where he had landed since the measuring tape was already off, but it seems he already knew he had surpassed me even before the measurement and without the electronic measuring tape being on."
Pichardo's actions generated greater controversy among the athletes trained in the Cuban jumping school, who are seen as the major favorites in the event for the title at the Olympic Games.
Since the classification, both had shown excellent form, but they still exchanged several messages during the interviews conducted in the mixed zone.
All of this fuels the men's triple competition in Paris, which will have its qualifying round next Wednesday, August 7.
Pichardo, who left the Cuban delegation in Stuttgart, Germany, in April 2017, will have another significant rival in Andy Díaz, a fellow countryman who shines under the flag of Italy.
In addition, the official delegation of Cuba will present indoor champion Lázaro Martínez and Cristian Nápoles. We must also not forget the Burkinabe Hugues Fabrice Zangho and the young Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert.
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