Her list of achievements includes 40 other gold medals won at the Paralympic Games, World Championships for the Blind, Parapanamerican Games, World Championships and several Grand Prix.
14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2024 — Omara Durand is a legend of Cuban para-athletics. The official media has given her the epithet of goat Greatest Of All Time). No one disputes that she is the greatest of all time. She won Paris 2024 with gold medals in the 100-meter dash by stopping the clock at 11.81 seconds, and she also did it in the 400 meters (53.59 seconds) and in the 200 meters (23.62 seconds) in the T12 category for people with visual disabilities.
Durand, who said goodbye with a kiss on the track at the Stade de France on 7 September, also won the treble in the 100m, 200m and 400m at the Paralympics in London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, for a total of 11 gold medals. Her record includes 30 other gold medals won at world championships for the blind, Parapanamericans, world championships for the disabled and several Grand Prix.
The athlete, who lives in the Chicharrones neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba, decided to retire in the French capital as she wanted: “the best female athlete in the history of the Paralympic movement.”
Between nostalgia and tears, the multi-champion, who has done nothing but run since she was seven years old and has put the Island on the top of the podium, acknowledged that she has “reached her finish line” at “the time to say enough” and put an end to the sacrifices. The Santiago native has had to overcome limitations, ailments, injuries, as well as “training countless times enduring pain.” Among her first objectives is to undergo eye surgery.
The athlete has shown that the word disability does not exist as an obstacle. “A human being gets to where he wants, as long as he sets his mind to it.”
Durand’s strength was vital in her recovery from the 2019 World Championships in Doha. The parathlete swept the 100-meter events in 11.48 seconds, the 200 meters in a new record of 23.03 seconds and the 400 meters in 53.05 seconds. However, she came out “destroyed” and ended up in an operating room. Although she recovered and returned to the track, she has confessed that this was the moment that led her to make the decision to say goodbye in Paris 2024.
Although the island claims that sports for the disabled are an exemplary topic, the reality is that, as in all disciplines, there are limitations. The sprinter has suffered on more than one occasion from a lack of resources to attend international events such as the Diamond League for people with disabilities.
“We need to make more progress,” Durand said in an interview with the SEMlac Cuba website. “We have to focus on doing many things so that sports for people with disabilities in Cuba are diverse, so that more sports can be practiced, and more Paralympic games can be taken to multidisciplinary games, but this requires a lot of willingness and a lot of work.”
Omara Durand has shown that the word disability does not exist as an obstacle. “We are human beings and a human being gets where he wants, whenever he sets his mind to it.” Although she accepts that along the way she has come across people who “have a disability in their hearts,” she does not limit herself. The place she leaves vacant will be very difficult to fill; today on the Island there is no athlete who will raise her hand; with her retirement, difficult times are coming for Cuban sport.
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