In London, the feminine vaulting pole emerged from the storm with powerful light to bring us Cubans an afternoon of peace and national joy.
On August 6, Yarisley Silva gave our Island’s athletics team its best result with a silver medal – the first medal to be obtained by a Latin athlete in Olympic Games in this sport.
Her performance at the finals opened with a failed attempt on 4.45m, but that unexpected false step did not prevent her from going ahead toward the Olympic dream. With great strength she continued in the competition and achieved each one of the following challenges at 4.55, 4.60, 4.65 and 4.70m. This last jump earned her a place in the Olympic podium, an unprecedented feat for athletes from this part of the world. A place that turned into silver minutes later when she reached 4.75m, a height equal to her life’s best.
“The jumping conditions were very unfavorable; there was a strong wind and it was very cold. I focused on what I had to do; I spent the whole time thinking about my technique and reviewing the movements. In every competition there are external variables you have to face; that day the weather was a great rival” – she commented when the competition was over, not without sentencing that: “In other circumstances the results would have been better; I was prepared for it. It was a very difficult competition in every sense; the most important one in my career and it demanded my utmost, both physically and emotionally”.
Asked about the experience and the result, the young woman from Pinar del Río admits: “I feared the classification, because I had been in Beijing and couldn’t go beyond it. When in London I achieved that stage, I was confident, because I was convinced that I could fight for a medal. The results I had been obtaining gave me options, since the world level is very much the same for all competitors”.
“I am very happy, I wanted an Olympic medal. I did not succeed in jumping above 4.80m, which was my target for the Olympic Games, but you draw lessons from all competitions and there are many technical details I have to improve; I still have along way to go.”
“Obtaining this result has taught me the final value of our daily sacrifice. It also made me understand that with effort, dedication and faith you always come ahead”.
The truth is that her performance is far reaching particularly because, from the three finalists, she, with differences, was the least endorsed. Let us recall that the Cuban athlete shared the podium with the two best vaulting pole female athletes in history: Jennifer Suhr (Gold-4.75) and Yelena Isinbayeva (Bronze-4.70). In London she had the opportunity to obtain a good result, and sure of herself she obtained a silver medal that is worth as much as gold.
It is so at international level because the result ratifies that she is an elite athlete, who grants prestige to the specialty, and at the same time announces her as one of the great ones who will appear during the next Olympic cycle.
It is so also at national level because she was the best Cuban athlete in athletics under the five rings in 2012.
And it is so also at personal level because without getting too nervous, this young woman cleanly achieved the heights and equaled her life mark and the national record to ensure a place in the Olympus. This is particularly evident in the self-confidence she shows at the time of the competition. She knows how to obtain results when they are needed; since Daegu she appeared as one of the “chosen ones” to obtain success. In sports, in addition to obtaining good results, it is important to obtain them at the right moment. Yarisley knows when and where to make her best shot. She had only achieved 4.75m once: in Guadalajara, Mexico, last year, and it earned her the title of Pan American champion, leaving behind the Daegu 2011 and Doha 2010 winner: no other than Fabiana Murer.
“London was a great test for me. Now I feel stronger and more confident because I could show to myself that when you want to achieve a goal you can always overcome all the obstacles in your way”.
Summarizing, the Cuban athlete had a memorable season in 2012: from the 22 competitions in which she participated, she obtained one of the first three positions in 19 of them; in 75% her mark was equal or higher than 4.60m. She had an optimum performance in the summer season, with 15 presentations and 14 medals: seven gold, six silver and one bronze. A very steady season, with evidences of remarkable competitive progression that make her the athlete with the best results among Cuban track and field athletes during the present season.
About her year of competitions she comments: “It has been a very good season, which marked my competitive maturity. I succeeded in being stable in my competitions, I won an Olympic medal, which is what every athlete wishes, and I placed the name of Cuba on high, becoming the first Cuban who reaches an Olympics final and who wins medals in this so difficult specialty. Those are wonderful things, they are results that will leave a mark on me forever. In 2012 my dreams have started to become true”.
Although she missed the diamond in the last stretch, this does not tarnish her performance in the least. She fulfilled her target, which was London; what happened there adds to what she had already achieved in Daegu and Guadalajara, as solid evidence that the girl has the quality of a champion. With 25 years of age, she feels capable of dreaming and of obtaining more. Now she is thinking of Moscow, and says in October she will start working very hard because in 2013 “I want to reach the World Championship in the best possible condition”.
