Yulimar Rojas: "May my name rumble throughout the world"

Last Saturday, the day after he beat in Madrid the world record for triple jump on the indoor track (15.43m), his sister Yerilda told him, "Yulimar, you are my princess", and gave him an inflatable crown that the jumper Venezuelan, quadruple world champion, stands on the head to parade with carnival joy through the streets of Guadalajara. With the crown poses Yulimar Rojas (Caracas, October 21, 1995), and feels happy with her, the girl who from a humble neighborhood of the Barcelona of the Caribbean conquered world athletics as ordered by her dreams. Only the orders of his coach, Iván Pedroso, who sometimes feels compelled to be a little bossy, make him uncork. But it is still her, perhaps the best triple jump jumper in history, the queen in a fairy tale.

Question. Is your life really a fairy tale?

Reply. These four years that I am in Guadalajara have been a radical change for my life. Go from being the Yulimar, the girl with aspirations of an Olympic medal, world titles, a world record, to now being the Yulimar that is gradually consecrated and that is conquering her dreams, her goals, is wonderful. Returning a few steps back and then seeing the present, seeing what I have achieved, comforts me a lot and makes me continue dreaming every day, and that is what identifies me, being a dreamer and never stop dreaming and looking for your dreams.

Q. Where are those dreams born? Where do they come from? Venezuela is not a power in athletics ...

A. Everything has come from my family, which has always been a sport lover. Since I was growing up I lived it. My father was a professional boxer, an athlete, and I admired him so much, I am his number one fan, that created a sporting environment in my growth, and an incredible love for sports. And he knew that I had a gift for the sport, and a great potential for it, and I had it clear, I had it in mind, I wanted to experience it. I was always very good for the sports of court, kicking ball, softball , baseball, for all those sports that were for tall people and that moved fast ... That led me to athletics, which went to my 14 years old, when I went to the José Antonio Anzoátegui sports center, where I was tested to see if I had any potential, my skills as an athlete. There I identified with this sport. I fell in love, I fell in love with athletics, I began to love him, to feel what the passion of this sport was, and to try to be better every day, to overcome myself.

Q. It was a personal commitment to your talent, could it have happened from him?

MORE INFORMATION

• Yulimar Rojas breaks the world record for triple jump 'indoor': 15.43 meters

A. Yes, yes, yes. I always knew that my destiny was to be an athlete, you know? I always knew that my destiny was to play a sport. At first I was not sure what sport I was going to develop. I had volleyball in my mind, the sport I had seen most, the main women's sport in the Caribbean, and I was doing well because of my height and my jump. I saw a great volleyball player, but where they measured my ability were the athletic trainers, and when they saw me they were shocked with my potential, with my height (1.92), with what I had. I marveled them and said, 'OK, let's start in athletics, if I don't like it, I switch to volleyball. But I fell in love with running, jumping, throwing, training every day, committing myself to improve, to compete, to win medals. And that permeated me in the blood. Athletics is the best thing that has happened to me.

P. It has to be a lot of love to make him change the Caribbean for Guadalajara with 20 years recently ...

A. It was a very drastic change, really. It was very difficult. Before coming to Spain I had never left Venezuela or been outside my family, to which I felt very attached. Separating myself was very strong. I always knew that to achieve great things in life you have to make great changes and you have to sacrifice things in your life for others to come. That is what kept me alive and also the thirst for triumphs of achieving my daily goals. And the conviction of saying that if God put this on my way is an opportunity to get my family forward, to show that I can achieve what I set out to do, that I not only have the potential but the courage to go to my dreams .

P. In Guadalajara, at least another human piece from the Caribbean, coach Iván Pedroso, was waiting for him ...

A. If I had been a Russian coach or so it would have been very complicated, mostly because of my way of being. I confess that before coming to Spain I had had proposals to study and train in Puerto Rico and a university in the United States, but they did not convince me and Jesús Velásquez, my coach then, advised me not to go, that it was not going to be A good change in my life. And I didn't feel like going. When I contacted Ivan with Facebook everything changed in my life, it was a moment of light. I felt the confidence and the desire to say yes, yes. It is time to change my life, to come to another path, another world, to experience what it feels like, what is lived.

P. And in Europe continued to amaze the world ...

R. From the minute one I set foot in Europe, I started training with Ivan, the pains, the effort, everything was very fast and strong, but I was assimilating it, and the change of life, of people, of customs, was all tremendous , but the love I received in Spain, and the admiration they feel for me has been fundamental to say that we must continue working to not disappoint and so that my name is rumbling throughout the world ... That Yulimar Rojas be heard in all the sides, and the people who see me say wow, I identify with that woman, with that person and that way of being, that way of transmitting energy, the desire to fight, to get ahead, to work for their dreams. And always, leaving the name of athletics at the top, and giving a good show where I am.

Q. Can the admiration you wake up also make people with your same sexual identity feel better in the midst of a sometimes uncompromising society?

A. My orientation, my sexuality has always been important for me and for my career. Since I started sport I have always tried to fight for the ideologies and rights of women and the LGBT collective. It is also a parea jump that love and life are respected, the desire to love and be loved is respected, and that human rights are valued every day. Dreams can also be fulfilled in this, whatever you are or love who you love, and that in spite of people who think that by loving a person of the same sex or by loving in that way you cannot achieve what you set out to do, knows? I invite all those people who love and who love to live love, not to refrain from opening up to the world and working for their dreams. There is only one life and you have to live it to the fullest always.

Q. During the perfect jump, how do you live inside?

A. They are sensations that you live since you are concentrating visualizing the perfect jump that you have in your mind and you want to repeat it on the track, since you give the first support, the first step, until you fall in the sand you feel when you have done well and when you hear the howl of your coach that says ¡Síííííííí´ !!! and its ¡vaaaaamos, keep it up! That, the adrenaline that comes from the public, is something that runs in your body, runs, until you see the mark ...

Q. Is this record confirmation that it is well on its way to summer goals, Olympic gold and another world record, perhaps 16 meters?

A. Yes, of course. I have always said that Ivan and I have many aspirations and we are very nonconformists. We always work for even more, to keep improving. The 16 meters is a barrier that many will say is impossible, but we, in each jump, in each trial, know that we have a lot of room for improvement of every detail, and so I will continue to conquer more centimeters and more until we reach 16 meters. This Madrid record is a plus, one more motivation for the summer, which is more important. This winter has been very short, I could only compete twice.

Q. What is the best reward? The money, the medals, the admiration of the people?

A. What I love most about this world of sport is the love of the people who love you, their admiration, yes, and the example you leave in everything you do. It's what fills me, it's what I work for. The monetary, the material, comes alone. It is something that fills you but no more than the love of the people, and what I can give you. Athletics is magical, it's magic, it's light, it's wonderful, and see on the track how they love you, how they look at you, how they identify with you, what they say wow, look, Yulimar. That fills me, and, most of all, the adrenaline that fills you when you are on the track, the public's desire to see a wonderful jump, the desire to succeed ... It is indescribable.

Q. Do you regret, then, not being public, not feeling the emotions that you transmit?

R. Jopé, I would love to have another Yulimar that felt the same among the public and be me, also Yulimar, competing ... And see what it feels like, how you live, how you see the jump from another point of view, what people feel when they see me jumping, which is different from what I feel jumping. It would be one of the most incredible things in the world ... If I could be two Yulimar I would know how to enjoy a world record.

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