Omara Durand was asked more than once what was the secret that made her the most important Para athlete in history. The Cuban athlete is always willing to share her success with the rest of her team. She loves sports just as much as she wants to make history. She has trained to make the Lima 2019 Games another victory in her career.

She was very moved when leaving her mark at the Athletics Stadium at VIDENA, always with a timid smile on her face. She created a synergy with her coach, Miriam Ferrer with whom she has been working for 13 years competing at the highest levels, improving her marks in T12 class (congenital visual impairment) which are even better than those obtained by some conventional athletes.

In these Parapan American Games, she hopes to be better with an historical triple gold in 100, 200 and 400m.  During her interview with Lima 2019, the fastest Para athlete in the world said that at 27, she still has many objectives, like a PhD in Psychology. She is an example of perseverance.

Has this being an important moment for you?

This has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I will take this memory back home to Cuba with me. I enjoy all the events I go to but Lima 2019 will be in my heart forever.

You have so many victories that make you the best in history. Do you like it that way?

I feel like a Paralympic athlete who likes to run and I do it with all my heart and discipline to meet the goals I set myself with my team.

What is your source of inspiration in sports?

Since my daughter Erika was born in 2013, I learned that you can be an athlete and a mother without any problems.  She was raised at the athletics track of La Habana where I train everyday. Mis peers and my coach, Miriam Ferrer, are her family. She even calls her grandma! There is a strong union among us which makes me quite happy and motivates me to give my best!

Have you practiced other sports?

When I was little, I loved volleyball but I never got to practice it. I grew up watching the famous Caribbean women of the Olympic Games, champions in Barcelona 92, Atlanta 96 and Sidney 2000. I liked the winner attitude of the Cuban women, specially Mireya Luis who I have always admired.

After your marks and medals, what other goals do you have?

I always train to be the best. The medals and marks can not be planned, they can only be obtained. One of my dearest goals in life has been studying psychology but I was not able to reach it because I have been training since I was 13 years old. When I was 15 years old, I was already a three-time Parapan American champion. However, I am getting ready for my doctoral thesis which I will start when I finish with my sports career.

BUY YOUR TICKETS

If you want to attend Omara Durand's competitions from Saturday, August 24, you can purchase your tickets from 10 soles. There will be a 50% discount for children under 18, senior citizens and people with an impairment. Tickets can be bought at the eleven Lima 2019-authorized points of sale around the city.

You may also get your tickets through Lima 2019 website lima2019.pe/tickets, where you can also find the competitions schedules. In the case of e-tickets, printing will no longer be necessary since customers will be able to show their e-ticket from their mobile phones at the entrance of the sports venue.

Lima 2019 will honor Cuban Omara Durand, one of the most prominent figures in athletics of the Paralympic movement. Tomorrow at 16:00, the fastest Para athlete in the world will put her imprints in cement at the VIDENA Hall of Fame, next to those of Jamaican Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the history of athletics.

The ceremony will be chaired by the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee President Carlos Neuhaus, the Mayor of Lima Jorge Muñoz, the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons, and the Chairman of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) Julio Ávila.

Durand was the first woman to break the 12-second barrier in the main Para athletics event; she also holds the world record at 11.40 seconds.  The Cuban athlete will compete in the 200m and 400m events of class T12 (athletes with visual impairment) to be held on August 24 at the Athletics Stadium of VIDENA.

Omara aims for her third triple-gold in these Games, after those landed at Rio 2007 and Toronto 2015. Peruvian fans will be able to enjoy the participation of this Olympic and world multi-medalist, one of the main figures to compete at Lima 2019.

BUY YOUR TICKETS

Tickets for competitions, as well as for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, are available with prices starting at PEN 10. There will be a 50% discount for children under 18, senior citizens and people with an impairment. Tickets are only available in the 11 authorized points of sale around the city.

Tickets can also be purchased online through the official website lima2019.pe/tickets, where you can find all the competition schedules. In the case of e-tickets, printing will no longer be necessary since customers can show their e-ticket from their mobile phones at the entrance of the sports venue.

1. Mexican racquetball player Paola Longoria won her third gold in the Pan American Games, winning the singles and doubles events.
2. Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas took her first gold in the Pan American Games, after winning the triple jump event, even setting a new Pan American record.
3. Colombian cyclist Mariana Pajón got her second gold medal in the Pan American Games, after the one she won at Guadalajara 2011.
4. Argentina’s basketball team clearly won the competition and picked up their second gold medal since Mar del Plata 1995. The team led by Luis Scola amazed the audience at the Eduardo Dibós Coliseum.
5. The Argentina’s hockey teams qualified to Tokyo 2020, showing their talent in each match, at the Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center. “Las Leonas” got their seventh gold and “Los Leones”, the tenth. Total Supremacy.
6. Brazilian tennis player Hugo Calderano won two gold medals in singles and doubles. The best player in the history of the Americas shone in Lima 2019 with his best talent.
7. Cuban wrestler Mijaín López reached his fifth consecutive Pan American gold at Lima 2019. The athlete who is also five-time world champion and three-time Olympic champion thanked the warmth of the Peruvian people.
8. Argentinian men’s rugby team stopped the two-time Canadian champion’s supremacy in the Pan American Games. Los Pumas swept all their rivals, in an amazing physical game, in Villa Maria del Triunfo.
9. Cuban Boxing shone again in a continental competition with eight gold medals out of 10 possible finals. Seven world champions and three Olympians confirmed that Cuba leads in this sport.
10. Brazilian swimmer Leonardo de Deus became three-time Pan American champion in the 200 m butterfly event, even though he was not on the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s initial list. He came in to replace a teammate who tested positive in the doping control. In addition, he claimed gold in mixed 4x100 medley relay, silver in 4x100 medley relay and bronze in 200 m backstroke.
11. Venezuelan fencer Ruben Limardo was crowned three-time Pan American champion in épée event. He also won bronze in the team event, having a total of eight medals in the Pan American Games.
12. Argentinian swimmer Delfina Pignatiello was crowned as the queen of the waters at Lima 2019, when she claimed three gold medals in the races of 400, 800 and 1500 meters. At the age of 19, she is the child prodigy in swimming throughout South America.
13. The American swimmer Margo Geer took four gold medals, one individual and four in relay events, becoming one of the most successful participants in Lima 2019.
14. Colombian athlete Anthony Zambrano won two gold medals in the 400m and 4x400m events, standing out as one of the new South American stars in athletics for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
15. Mexican diver Kevin Berlin was crowned as the new Latin American star after winning the 10m platform individual and synchronized events.
16. Cuban judoka Idalys Ortíz picked up her third consecutive gold medal in the +78 kg event. She is one of the most successful athletes in Cuba.
17. American wrestler Kyle Snyder became Pan American champion for the second time in the 97 kg event.  At the age of 23, he is also Olympic champion and two-time world champion.
18. Swimmer Marcela Cunha won gold in open water swimming and closed a wonderful year, after two world gold medals in the 5 and 25 km aquatic marathon. With 10 gold medals, she was crowned as the woman with the most titles in the World Aquatic Sports Championships and entered the Hall of Fame, after winning at Lima 2019.
19. Peruvian karateka Alexandra Grande and water skier Natalia Cuglievan went down in the history of Peruvian sport after winning their second consecutive gold medals in the Pan American Games. This fact will remain in history.

The first group of 23 Cuban athletes arrived in Peru to compete at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games, to take place from August 23 to September 1. 

The Cuban delegation was led by Paralympic swimming champion Lorenzo Pérez, gold medalist in 100m freestyle at Rio 2016 and world record in 100m freestyle, S6. 

Pérez was also a Parapan American champion at Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015. He is part of a group of eight Cuban athletes who will compete in Para swimming, one of the sports that will feature Cuba. 

The rest of the group will compete in other sports: Para taekwondo (6), Para badminton (3), shooting Para sport (3), Para cycling (2) and wheelchair tennis (1).  

A total of 48 Cuban athletes will participate in these Games. The rest of the delegation will arrive to Lima in a second group led by Omara Durand, medalist in many Games. 

Durand will be the Cuban flagbearer during the Opening Ceremony, which will take place at the National Stadium on August 23. 

The second group will have athletes competing in judo (5), Para powerlifting (5) and Para table tennis (4). 

The Cuban athletes expect to have a good performance at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games, an improvement on their participation in Toronto 2015.

Mexico’s finest. Before talking to the media, and with the gold medal hanging in her neck, the two-times Pan American individual cycling champion (Guadalajara 2011 and Lima 2019), Cuban Arlenis Sierra broke the protocols and run to the security fence to celebrate with the crowd, hugging and taking pictures with Peruvian fans that came early in the morning to the finish line area to support the athletes. 

“Everything in Lima 2019 is amazing: the support and kindness of the people, the excellent organization of the Organizing Committee showed in the care and security they took for athletes, at the Pan American Village and competition venues, always aware of what we needed. I think that shows a high commitment to sport,”   she said. 

Today, everything was a success: the people's attendance since 08:00 at the Costa Verde, from Magadalena to Chorrillos, to support athletes; the security provided by the National Police of Peru (PNP) along the competition course and the support of Lima 2019 volunteers, that helped by providing information about spectators’ areas. 

Only two days ago, a small rockfall affected the individual road cycling course. However, this incident did not trouble the competition as the Organizing Committee activated its emergency protocols so everything could continue as planned.     

The women’s individual race started with a pack that took the lead of the competition. Peruvian representatives, Cynthia Davila and Luddy Fernandez were into this pack, but as competitors completed laps, Chile, Canada, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago took the lead. Although this group lead most of the race, at the final stage when legs start to feel the pain of pedaling after 80 km, the Cuban Arlenis Sierra, 2018 Pan American champion and Guadalajara 2011 gold medal, proved why she is the best. 

The 33 competitors rode five laps to complete the 80 km of the competition, which starting and finish lines were located the Sucre exit, located near the Virgen del Inmaculado Corazon at the last block of Avenida Brasil. 

After two hours and nineteen minutes, the first one to cross the finish line was the Cuban athlete, followed by the cyclist from Trinidad and Tobago, Teniel Campbell, and the bronze medal was won by the Mexican Lizbeth Salazar Vasquez. 

Cuban wrestler Mijaín López, a living and reigning glory of his country, made history at Lima 2019 by winning his fifth consecutive Pan American Games gold medal after his victories in Santo Domingo 2003, Rio 2007, Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015.

López, who is the flag bearer of the Cuban delegation and the most awarded athlete in his country, arrived in Peru with three Olympic and five world titles in the Greco-Roman wrestling, in which he became a legend. His participation in Lima 2019 closed his brilliant career in the Pan American Games, where he won everything. The Cuban athlete won the 130 kg competition at Lima 2019. The heaviest weight class in this discipline.

“I will remember this last Pan American medal as a very nice and easy feat, because I had never been in Peru before and I feel very happy to hear and learn about its rich culture. I will remember it forever. Now I will be aiming for a fourth title in the Olympic Games to finish my career,” pointed out the Cuban athlete.

Mijaín Lopez stated that his stay in Lima gave him the possibility of sharing with Peruvians, and take to his country the gold medal obtained in the competition, held at the Miguel Grau Coliseum, and the sculpture of Cuchimilco, which represents the Chancay culture.

“I will remember this Peruvian sculpture every day, because I have felt well taken care of by Peru and very happy as well. “I am taking home a piece of the Peruvian culture and I will remember it forever,” said the Cuban wrestler after mentioning that he has many memories of the country that organized the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

He stated that he was impressed by the Peruvian culture during his participation at Lima 2019. He also highlighted as achievements of the Organizing Committee the discipline and security during the Pan American Games. "They have made a proper organization and that is noteworthy. In addition, Peruvians are going to have top-level venues to encourage the practice of sports,” said the Cuban, one of the main stars who arrived to compete in Lima 2019.

A GREAT MEMORY

Mijaín López said that this medal represents something huge for him, because it is his fifth Pan American medal, which represents the efforts that he has made throughout these years to achieve this goal.

The Cuban athlete recommended young Peruvians to continue fighting and doing things well. Therefore, he gave as an example the bronze medal in women's wrestling obtained by Thalía Mallqui.

“I congratulate a great Peruvian athlete (referring to Thalía Mallqui) because she managed to make her way by winning a bronze medal where there is a high level in wrestling with countries such as Cuba, United States and Canada. I can only encourage her to share that confidence with the next girls' generation. I hope that she maintains that energy and desire so that athletes can continue to get good results and bring joy to all Peruvians," he added.