The white tank top with green sides and the number 76 on the chest. There necklace golden. The minutes of preparation and the run-up, with the leaps and that jump without dropping the horizontal pole. A centimeter higher than a football goal. Salamanca, July 27, 1993: 2.45 metres. The world record. Signed Javier Sotomayor. Thirty years later, seeing those images is still creepy. Also because no one, after him, has ever managed to do better. That afternoon, in Spain, the Cuban athlete reached an historic record, surpassing his own world record, set five years earlier in Salamanca: 2.43. The same peak reached at the 1989 World Cup in Budapest, when ‘Soto’ branded the indoor world record, also still undefeated. A legend of athletics, Sotomayor, considered the greatest high jumper of all time. With a career ultraventennale, inextricably linked to his Cuba and to the myth of the Revolution, which he has never denied. And with one of the four children who seems to follow in her footsteps in Spain: under 18 national champion and an already written future as an Olympian. Although it is not known whether for the Iberian colors orCaribbean island.
Born in lemon grovein the province of Matanzas, on October 13, 1967, Javier Sotomayor was introduced to the sport by an uncle who gave his parents a stopwatch. At each errand the little ‘Soto’ tried to lower the time taken. The big predisposition for sport it was already evident, but the choice of the high jump took place at the age of ten, when it amazed a recruiter of Cuban talents by skipping the auction. Yet Sotomayor’s aspiration was to become a runner like his idol, his compatriot Alberto Juantorena, Cuban legend after the double feat at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games. At the age of 14, the first jump over two meters, then studies at the highest sporting levels in Havana. From there a meteoric ascent, first a level nationalthen world-wide, thanks to its first coach, jose godoy Sánchez, whom he called “The Master”. It was he, who died in 1990, who was responsible for the transformation into a champion. Sotomayor swore between le tears that he would have dedicated an Olympic gold medal to him. And so it was, just two years after a Barcelona. With a new coach, William of the Torre, with whom initially the relationship was not easy. But then the two hit it off and ‘Soto”s career took off.
21 jumps above 2.40 meters. One Olympic gold and one silver, two outdoor and four indoor world golds, three ai Pan American Games, not counting the 12 Cuban championships in athletics. Sotomayor, 1.94 tall, competed in three Olympic Games. And in two others he was unable, reluctantly, because of boycotts between Eastern and Western blocs (Los Angeles 1984, in response to Western refusal to participate in Moscow 1980, and Seoul 1988). In thirty years, since that July 27, 1993 in Salamanca, no one has really managed to worry Sotomayor, so proud to hold the record more and more every day. The Qatari approached Mutaz Essa Barshim – which he shared with the Italian at Tokyo 2020 Gianmarco Tamberi gold after 2.37 meters – with 2.43 meters in 2014. A good two centimeters below. Before the withdrawal, which took place in 2001, even a contested one positivity at the cocaine during an anti-doping test, which was followed by a fine that was later halved by the Federation athletics international.
Today Javier Sotomayor, 55, lives between Guadalajara (north of Madrid) e Havana. His son Jaxier, champion of Spain under 18 despite being only 16 years old, is among the candidates for the Olympic Games between 2028 and 2032. In Spain the father, who perhaps would accept losing the record only to his son – even if he strongly believes that it will not happen – also trains a Spanish girl. And in Cuba? Loyalty to socialism and constant thanks to Fidelfor which sport was an obsession, are not enough to remedy the problems, above all cheapas often stated by the Cuban champion himself, recalling the embargo and sanctions of the era Trump-Biden which have exacerbated the troubles on the island. In Havana ‘Soto’, who works with the Athletics Federation, manages the 2.45 club – an evocative name – in the neighborhood of Miramarwhere concerts by major Cuban musical groups are often hosted, such as the First Havana. And music is another of the great passions of the ‘King of the skies‘, who devotes his free time to the group Salsa Mayorof which he was the founder.