Orlando Ortega (Artemisa, Cuba, 1991) heads the list of athletes who will represent Spain this weekend at the Ibero-American Championships in Alicante. The Spanish-Cuban hurdler faces with special enthusiasm his return to the national team after the misfortune of Tokyo 2020-a hamstring injury prevented him from competing-, a setback that made him rethink his life. Now, almost a year later, he looks happier and more balanced than ever.
Orlando attended MARCA in the hall of the Hotel Vibra Algarb in Ibiza, where the athletes who participated in the Meeting Toni Bonet of the white island on May 7. We are surrounded by children who have come to a promotional event and look with curiosity and devotion at the myth.
Then it will be time for the autographs but first, between one question and another, he reveals that will marry in October with his girlfriend Aina Maro and that in December I will finally be able to travel to Cuba, where a large part of his family still resides, after nine years. Life, in short, smiles at him again.
QUESTION. After spending a few months in Barcelona -until October 2021 you lived in Cyprus- do you have the impression that you have made the right decision?
RESPONSE. It’s that I had it very clear from the first moment and I told Antonis Giannoulakis -his previous coach of him-, who has behaved like a ten at all times. I am very calm and very happy because I have realized that there is a world beyond athletics.
He had arrived at an incredible time in Tokyo and he knew that he could fight for the medals so he had a very bad time; I was crying for almost two months and I didn’t see the final on television
P. That’s what you recently told him in a wonderful interview in El Pas.
R. It’s just that now I’m enjoying athletics like a little boy. And it doesn’t matter if it went bad for me on a given day because that can happen to anyone at your job. Now I know that I am going to finish training and I am going to go home with my girl to prepare dinner or watch a movie and that makes me immensely happy. I am also studying computer engineering at UCAM.
P. And how about this new stage with your father? Are there differences from the first?
R. Now we are more attuned and there is much more communication. We have a life together beyond the track and that has a very positive effect on training.
P. Do you mean that before you worked more as a coach than as a father?
R. No, the problem is that before I was more of an athlete than a son. But I’ve changed for the better and he appreciates it. Now we understand each other more as father and son and in the past we communicated mostly as coach and pupil. Before we only talked about athletics and now we are more relaxed. Eye, I’m still as professional as ever because athletics is my passion but I don’t want to stress anymore.
I’m still as professional as ever because athletics is my passion but I don’t want to stress anymore, I’m enjoying myself like a little boy
P. Your three best marks -12.94, 13.01 and 13.03- date from the time when you no longer competed for Cuba but were not yet Spanish (2014-2015). Will we be able to see an Orlando below 13 seconds in the future?
R. I have a lot of faith that I will achieve it because I know that I can still give my best on the track. I also say that we must be realistic because athletes are not machines. I don’t go running thinking about a certain brand but about enjoying myself. Also, the goal is always to win even with 14 seconds.
Q. How are you physically after the nightmare you experienced in 2021?
R. I feel very well, apart from some discomfort that is always normal in highly competitive sports. Last year was an absolute disaster because in reality I arrived at the Games in top form and in the end, due to accumulated muscle fatigue, what happened happened.
Q. Did you cry in Tokyo?
R. Yes, of course, very much. And then when I got home, too. In fact, I was crying for almost two months because of what happened. He had arrived at an incredible time and he knew he could fight for the medals so he had a really bad time. I had also made a bet with my coach that (Grant) Holloway was not going to win and I saw myself in the top four.
The problem with my father was that I used to be more of an athlete than a son, but I have changed for the better and he appreciates it. Before we only talked about athletics and now we are more relaxed
Q. Did you ever see the Olympic final of the 110 hurdles on television?
R. No, I preferred not to see it, although I later found out the result. I was mentally devastated and that’s why I took almost four months of total relaxation. Fortunately I had the support of mine and I understood that this is life, that when you least expect it, it comes and sticks you a tremendous stick.
P. This 2022, after six years competing as a Spaniard, was surpassed for the first time by two national athletes, Asier Martínez and Quique Llopis. How is he doing?
R. It has been a plus for me, I get along wonderfully. It motivates me to have two colleagues of that level and I hope this rivalry lasts for many years. Anyway I have lost a race but not the war because there will be many more clashes to come so nothing happens. Besides, everyone knows that 60 hurdles isn’t exactly my specialty.
P. From your experience, do you see Asier and Quique on world and Olympic podiums in the future?
R. Why not, but those who have to believe it before anyone else are themselves. I knew at the age of 21 that I could be an Olympic medalist and I fought and worked to achieve it. Thank God now I have an Olympic medal, a world medal and two Diamond Leagues but the key was that I knew I could achieve all those goals.