{"id":325360,"date":"2025-07-05T16:04:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T20:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=325360"},"modified":"2025-07-05T16:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T20:04:24","slug":"lester-lescay-i-left-cuba-because-i-didnt-want-to-spend-my-youth-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/sports\/lester-lescay-i-left-cuba-because-i-didnt-want-to-spend-my-youth-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Lester Lescay: \u201cI left Cuba because I didn\u2019t want to spend my youth there.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was almost a given that Lester Lescay would fly far. As a child, he was explosive, tall and slim and very fast: the perfect combination for success in jumps. As if that weren\u2019t enough, he also had genetics on his side: his aunt, Mabel Gay, was a world medalist and for several years entered the major global triple jump finals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was no surprise then that fate propelled him to stardom as a teenager: at 15, he won the U-18 world championship in the long jump, by 16 he had surpassed the eight-meter barrier and on his 17th birthday (October 15, 2018), he was crowned champion of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/lester-lescay_efe-2.jpg\" alt=\"Jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championship at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championship at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this happened in a period of 15 months, between July 2017 and October 2018, a period in which he went from being one of the many young athletes in the Cuban long jump academy to one of the main future long jump referents on the Caribbean island. \u201cIt was very fast, I barely had time to process it; I was just jumping, trying to make each competition better than the last,\u201d Lescay recalls in an interview with <\/span><b>OnCuba<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His rise coincided with the rise of Juan Miguel Echevarr\u00eda, who in 2018, at just 19 years old, won the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham and immediately established himself as Cuba\u2019s leading long jumper. \u201cHe\u2019s the classic very talented kid who finishes junior level without becoming a big star and when he joins the national team he takes on the world,\u201d says Lester, who had every chance of forming a killer duo with Juan Miguel Echevarr\u00eda.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Uwp1BgH6Xd\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/los-largos-saltos-de-juan-miguel-echevarria\/\">Los largos saltos de Juan Miguel Echevarr\u00eda<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u00abLos largos saltos de Juan Miguel Echevarr\u00eda\u00bb \u2014 OnCubaNews\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/los-largos-saltos-de-juan-miguel-echevarria\/embed\/#?secret=EmSoV9ygak#?secret=Uwp1BgH6Xd\" data-secret=\"Uwp1BgH6Xd\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Juan Miguel took the lead and established himself among the best in the world, while Lescay progressed more slowly, although he stabilized at 8 meters and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics: \u201cWe don\u2019t all move at the same pace; some explode before others. Sometimes you lose patience very quickly with young people, but you can\u2019t despair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The leap to another dimension<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lester Lescay was born in Santiago de Cuba, a Pinar del R\u00edo adopted son and married to a Spaniard. In March 2022, when he finally broke ties with Cuba\u2019s National Institute of Sports (INDER) after a competition in Belgrade, he settled in Spain with his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI stayed with a super-nice Spanish family who welcomed me as one of their own. I\u2019ve never had a hard time here; but neither did I in Cuba. My mother gave me everything. I wasn\u2019t a child who had a hard time. I simply left Cuba because I didn\u2019t want to spend my youth there, to have more freedom,\u201d he says in Madrid, where fans of the long jump hold him in high regard.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/lester-lescay_efe-1.jpg\" alt=\"Long jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championships at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1283\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championships at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, at first, Spain didn\u2019t see him as a potential addition to its national team. In fact, despite his records, his talent and his youth record, he had to wait until he was married to obtain Spanish nationality and be able to officially sign his permanent transfer to the European national team after three years without competing for Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t granted nationality through the sport, as has happened in other cases. The path has been different, but in the end I managed to integrate well. I\u2019ve had a lot of support from the Playas de Castell\u00f3n club, which I joined almost as soon as I arrived. Their help has been crucial, because when you emigrate you don\u2019t know how you\u2019re going to live. It\u2019s a lot of uncertainty, and they were always there for me,\u201d reveals Lescay, who has already achieved his first successes with that country alongside his coach Luis Felipe Meliz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLuis Felipe has always been with me, through the good days, the bad, the triumphs and the defeats. I have a lot to thank him for,\u201d he emphasizes.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"5NQAb3ehJa\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/luis-felipe-meliz-levantar-un-castillo-sobre-la-arena\/\">Luis Felipe M\u00e9liz: levantar un castillo sobre la arena<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u00abLuis Felipe M\u00e9liz: levantar un castillo sobre la arena\u00bb \u2014 OnCubaNews\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/luis-felipe-meliz-levantar-un-castillo-sobre-la-arena\/embed\/#?secret=MSqZjKGx9Z#?secret=5NQAb3ehJa\" data-secret=\"5NQAb3ehJa\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year, both competed at the European Indoor Championships held in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, and won the bronze medal, just one centimeter behind the gold won by the \u201celectric\u201d Bulgarian Bozhidar Sar\u00e2boyukov and tied with star Italian Mattia Furlani, who won silver for achieving a second-best time in his sequence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat was my official debut with Spain, unforgettable, both for the medal and for having competed injured, almost unable to run. I had to be infiltrated to jump. The hardest thing was not being able to enjoy the event, but the result is a happy memory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Present and future: limitless<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lester Lescay considers himself fortunate. Although he has endured some of the typical bitter experiences of an emigrant, his transition from Cuba to Spain has been easy, both personally and professionally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBeing with my wife, in a family environment, has made a difference. I was also lucky that Puma signed me to start. Things have flowed and at this point I feel very loved by the people. It\u2019s important to feel the warmth, to feel loved, even on a day when things aren\u2019t going well for you,\u201d says Lescay, just after finishing outside the top eight in the First Division of the European Team Championship held last weekend in Vallehermoso.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1284px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/lester-lescay_efe-3.jpg\" alt=\"Jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championship at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.\" width=\"1284\" height=\"1920\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jumper Lester Lescay during his participation in the European Team Championship at the Vallehermoso stadium in Madrid. EFE\/Sergio P\u00e9rez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s a shame that here in Madrid I couldn\u2019t make the jump the fans were hoping for. It wasn\u2019t a good day, but not because of a lack of legs: it just didn\u2019t work out. The important thing was to bring points to the team. I\u2019m not sad, but I know I could have done more. What couldn\u2019t happen was to leave Spain without points. That\u2019s why, on the third attempt, we took two steps back to ensure at least a valid jump,\u201d explains the Santiago native, who faced the demands of a world competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the one hand, Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou \u2014 Juan Miguel Echevarr\u00eda\u2019s executioner at Tokyo 2020 \u2014 dominated with the best mark of the year (8.46 meters). In second and third place were Sweden\u2019s Thobias Montler (multi-European medalist) and Italy\u2019s Mattia Furlani (this season\u2019s world indoor champion and Olympic bronze medalist in Paris).<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"XNZaCaOctL\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/saltador-cubano-estrena-nacionalidad-espanola-con-bronce-europeo\/\">Saltador cubano estrena nacionalidad espa\u00f1ola con bronce europeo<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u00abSaltador cubano estrena nacionalidad espa\u00f1ola con bronce europeo\u00bb \u2014 OnCubaNews\" src=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/deportes\/atletismo\/saltador-cubano-estrena-nacionalidad-espanola-con-bronce-europeo\/embed\/#?secret=JvQ6O6aLBJ#?secret=XNZaCaOctL\" data-secret=\"XNZaCaOctL\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After this test, Lester is facing the rest of the season with clear goals:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOn the one hand, there\u2019s the World Championships next September in Japan, where I\u2019ll go all out. There won\u2019t be a team involved: it\u2019ll just be me competing, and if I fail, the damage will be solely on me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFurthermore, I want to break my personal record, which is 8.35 meters. I was aiming to achieve that here in Madrid; I know I was in good shape, but after two fouls you have to put those ideas aside and try to secure a third place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis year, I think I can break that mark, as long as I stay healthy and do things right, both on and off the field. If I take care of myself, my limits are far from over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 23-year-old long jumper from Santiago de Cuba, a member of the Spanish national team since early 2025, is aiming for ambitious goals for his future in sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2213,"featured_media":325363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13925,34],"tags":[24226,25695,19256],"ppma_author":[33652],"class_list":["post-325360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-sports","tag-athletics-in-cuba","tag-cuban-athletics","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lester Lescay: \u201cI left Cuba because I didn\u2019t want to spend my youth there.\u201d | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was almost a given that Lester Lescay would fly far. 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