Back in 2014, when Yoandys Lescay celebrated his 20 years old, he was already showing techniques on the runway. He had everything to establish himself as one of the good 400-meter runners on the island.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- The trainers close to him saw his potential to become the best man in Cuba in the distance, and of course, they bet that his ability would lead him to climb positions within a very demanding international scenario.
Today, six years later, the statements become important: the runner form Las Tunas became the best in Cuba in the return to the oval runway and his individual performance led him to command a 4x400m pole that met the expectations that weighed on him in almost all his presentations.
However, health has played against him, postponing his consecration. Suffering from illnesses and injuries that have kept him out of action since the end of 2018, Lescay today struggles to regain the physical form that led him to reach with records below 45 seconds.
Lescay's career is at a turning point. At his 26 years old, he has the opportunity to reinvent himself and have another experience under the five rings, in a time that is also decisive for humanity, which defends without antidote from the attack -often silent- of the new coronavirus.
“The injuries, and more than that, the diseases I have faced have played a trick on me – he does not hesitate to respond. I suffered from Zika at the end of 2018. That put me out of action, I spent eight months without doing practically any sport. I tried to prepare for the Pan American Games in about three months, but I was starting like the one who says from zero and I couldn't do everything I would have wanted in Lima," he recalls.
“I'm calm because I did my best, but I know that I can be more than that Lescay who is surely now the most remembered. In 2019, I started with everything, I was doing quite well, but I got injured, and now just when I was ready to start the Covid-19 appears”, he regrets.
Lescay has two battles: the one that comes from his caste, like every high-performance athlete who carries the Olympic dream as his flag, and the one that concerns him as a citizen of the world: defeating the coronavirus.
Although his mind and body are focused on the goal of qualifying for the Olympic Games, Lescay takes on the immediate challenge of humanity: overcoming this nightmare called the coronavirus that keeps the planet on edge amidst contagion, uncertainty and pain from the continuing loss of human life.
“The coronavirus is a very complex situation that has cost thousands of human lives and we still don't know how far it will go, so I think this is now the priority issue for all of us in this world”.
Lescay has been an athlete of positive individual results, although somewhat sporadic. His greatest and indelible mark, by the way, has been focused on relay races, where he has been the undisputed leader of the Cuban posts that have been the source of the greatest joy from this collective front of athletics in recent times.
How do you assume, from an individual point of view, the challenge of working for a collective result?
“Since I was a child, when I watched television with my father, I told him that I wanted to be the final runner of a Cuban relay and you see, it's a dream come true. I feel that I put more emphasis on teamwork than on personal goals as such. However, one thing goes hand in hand with the other, because to succeed in the team you have to do solid work individually."
“You train hard, and I personally look for ways to work hard to contribute as much as possible. It requires an extra effort because we have to bring collective elements into individual training, and vice versa."
In Cuba, he is still number one in his race. The 400 meters are not prodigal right now. The post that Lescay commanded has been diluted and the youngsters seem to be still very young. In view of this situation, the possibility of taking advantage of our best cards in the configuration of a mixed relay, the new modality incorporated in Doha 2019 to the program of the great events of athletics, is being studied.
“I think that right now it is the event with the greatest possibilities of being in a final for Cuba and being in that phase, you never know what might happen. There are three women with a lot of potentials, and there are still two men to be defined to make up the team, where four are running, but two substitutes are included."
"I think that the boys are there, which means that they have not yet projected their potential. In these team trials, explosiveness and competitiveness are fundamental. Success is the result of teamwork."
"In my personal case, I take up the challenge as always. With that leadership that has characterized my career in these races, which is part of my way of being too. It's my sport spirit when it comes to grabbing the baton I can only look ahead and give it my all in the race. I try to convey the same to my teammates."
Lescay is also missing from qualifying for Tokyo. The change of date favors him because if he had remained in this year, perhaps he would not have reached the days to find an adequate peak performance to afford the direct ticket to the great appointment. For the 400m race, the organizers are asking for 44.90 seconds and his personal best is 45 flat, achieved at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“The postponement of the Olympic Games was expected because of the epidemic situation. There are athletes who could benefit from this change, there are others who could not. I have to be honest, the change is good for me because it gives me more time to focus on getting the Olympic record after the injury I recently got over. It takes the pressure off me and increases my chances of being in Tokyo now in 2021. But in my mind, nothing has changed. I have a goal, and my sights are set on that, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, because from what I've heard the name is not going to change."
Neither will his goals.
“My immediate goal is to qualify for the Olympics. I have individual goals of being able to go under 45 seconds, and be a world and/or Olympic finalist. But above all, it's to give room for a good performance. I have faith in the mixed relay that we are forming, but I do not say more."
Meanwhile, he asks his people to take care of themselves, because only then will there be time available to continue fighting for their dreams.
“COVID-19 has to be faced with discipline. The only vaccine is to stay home, to keep our distance, so that's what we have to do. It is up to us to take care of ourselves and those around us, our family, the doctors, and the people we love."
