Néstor Evian Almanza Truyol (Havana, July 28, 2002) will compete this Wednesday, August 7, starting at 11:21 AM (European time), in the 67-kilogram category of Greco-Roman wrestling, representing Chile, the country that granted him nationality in 2023. This will take place in the round of 16 at the Champ de Mars Arena Pista against the Moldovan Petic Valentin.
In Cuba, he started at the sports initiation school EIDE Mártires de Barbados in Havana, which holds pleasant memories for him. As he has recounted, he arrived in Chile in 2020 because he had been separated from his father, Néstor Almanza Baro, who placed fourth at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics and was the world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1993. One of his great dreams was for his father to be his coach, but his father had been in Chile since 2013, hired by the Federation as the head coach of the national team.
As soon as he arrived in Chile, his grandmother died in Cuba, and his father had to leave for the Island. He was left alone in a country he didn't know, and that's why he remembers that moment as very hard, despite finding support from those who welcomed him as one of their own and gave him "the strength to keep fighting." At that moment, he wasn't sure he could be in the Paris Olympics because he had been told that obtaining nationality could take a few years. But he received it by grace, and once he got it, the skies opened up for him.
In 2023 and 2024, after being nationalized, Néstor Almanza Jr. won silver and bronze medals at the Pan American Wrestling Championships. Qualifying for Paris is already "something big" and "a source of pride" for him because "not everyone has the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games." This did not happen by chance. It was part of his goals in the last year because it was his "dream," as he mentioned in an interview with CDO Noticias.
A week before qualifying for Paris, Néstor Almanza Jr. was at the specific Pan American tournament and lost a tough match against the same opponent he faced in the Olympic qualifying event in Acapulco. Far from being daunted, he focused on identifying the details to improve. And he improved them. "I kept working with my dad, and we did things well," he said. He also mentioned that he had spoken with Olympic medalist Yasmani Acosta, who had just won silver in Greco-Roman wrestling in Paris after facing the legendary Mijaín López. "Yasmani told me, 'This is something big. You have to give it your all. Come with me to Paris.'"
This is how Néstor Almanza Jr. surpassed the American Alejandro Sancho at the Olympic Qualifiers in Acapulco, qualified for Paris, and celebrated it with a gymnast's flip, which the Chilean Federation highlighted on its social media. "That's how you celebrate!"
To get to where his formula has reached is simple: follow to the letter what his coach says. "He is the one who knows. He has an impressive resume," admits the Cuban-Chilean.
Néstor Almanza Jr. arrives in Paris with good feelings. He sees the medal as possible. This year he trained in Cuba with high-level athletes, then went to Europe, and finally lands at the Olympic Games, at 22 years old, hungry for victories and eager to follow in his father's footsteps. "He was always my example." He already has a slight advantage because his father competed in his first Olympic Games at 21, and he arrives at 22; to surpass him, he needs to win a medal.
A total of 21 Cuban athletes will represent other delegations at the Paris 2024 Olympics, a figure that reflects the unstoppable exodus of athletes in recent years.
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