The legendary Cuban runner Hermes Julián Ramírez Limonta, Olympic silver medalist and three-time Pan American silver medalist in the 4x100 event, passed away at the age of 76.
The National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) announced the news on Wednesday, without specifying the cause of death.
"Olympic runner-up in Mexico 1968 (4x100) and triple Pan American runner-up in that event, he also stood out for his pedagogical work," the organization posted on its Twitter account.
Born in Guantánamo on January 7, 1948, Hermes Julián Ramírez Limonta was active for 12 years in the Cuban national team.
The specialized magazine JIT describes him as one of the fastest sprinters from Cuba, thanks to his impressive start and his rarely seen ease of movement.
In his time, he had the best world time for 100 meters among youth (10.2 seconds), registered four times of 10 seconds in that distance, and was one of the few Cuban runners who went to three Olympics: Mexico '68, Munich '72, and Montreal '76.
"Founder of the School Games, multi-medalist in Central American and Pan American Games," the post recalls.
"He was a committed Cuban who achieved his successes as an athlete and trainer with great dignity," said the president of INDER, Osvaldo Vento Montiller.
In 2020, in an interview with journalist Julia Osendi, he talked about his beginnings in athletics in Havana, where he lived since he was four years old.
In 1964, he competed in the second School Games and won in the 100 and 200 meters, and came in second in the 4x100. Then he experienced one of the bitterest moments of his life. The qualifiers for the Tokyo 1964 Olympics were taking place, and a minimum mark of 10.4 seconds was required in the 100 meters, which the 16-year-old teenager achieved without issues.
"You can imagine the joy that filled me, but why must there always be a 'but'? The then-president of INDER, José Llanuza, decided that my youth was a handicap and prevented my attendance. He deprived me of accumulating four Olympics in my curriculum," he denounced.
After retiring from sports, Hermes Ramírez worked as a physical education teacher at the Military Technical Institute.
For four years, he served as the coach of the national team and worked in Mexico and Panama.
His body will be laid to rest at the funeral home in Calzada and K.
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