The Japanese Akira Sone gazed at her silently. In the midst of her joy at winning a gold medal expected in her country, the Japanese woman saw a woman descend from the tatami that was extremely difficult for her and for almost nine minutes forced her to push herself to the max. Almost twelve thousand kilometers away, another Island also observed her in the middle of the morning, because in a country accustomed to following her champions, Idalys Ortiz is never alone.
“We came here to get a medal and that's done,” she says with a familiar smile, “so I'm very happy. Many saw this medal as impossible, but not me. I sacrificed myself and in just two and a half months I was ready to be here, so I am satisfied ”.
Before her, only a giant like Driulis González had achieved the feat of putting the Cuban flag four times on an Olympic podium. Idalys knows that with this performance she is equal in number of medals.
“Driulis has been the highest ranked athlete in our judo and has always been my idol. When I competed in Beijing she was looking for her fifth Olympic medal, and I was just telling myself that she should imitate it. Today I am matching her and if she proposed me to look for another Olympic medal, her idea would not be to surpass her, but to follow a legacy. To be here is also to fulfill that dream ”.
And to fulfill that dream, in each of her Olympic participations Idalys left an image for history. In Beijing, she was the one with that almost adolescent face fearlessly facing consecrated judokas; in London, the multi-colored hair and jumps in a memorable finale; in Rio, the maturity of an athlete who knows how much a silver medal is worth when she has lived so much for and for judo.
In each date, in each fight, she took a step towards a story that she today she magnified.
Even the road to Tokyo was full of doubts and uncertainties that she alone, without speaking, knew how to vanish from combat to combat. First the lack of preparation tournaments, then suffering from COVID-19 and stopping a training just at the most important moment. Within a few weeks she returned to compete in a World Championship that saw her go without medals, but above all she remained unfazed.
"It was one of the best competitions of my life," she said just before taking a plane, crossing half the world, and landing in the cradle of the sport that she has helped to magnify. While some doubted her fitness, Idalys was calm, quiet. Even here, when she had a hard time defeating the Portuguese Rochele Nunes in her first fight and aroused concern throughout the island, she preferred to remain silent.
She later shook and swept China's Shiyan Xu to secure again in an Olympic semi-final. There, the French Romane Dicko was waiting for her, with her twenty-year-old momentum and an undefeated that extended from January 2020. As in the final, Idalys also wore white, the same color with which she won the Olympic gold nine years ago.
On that occasion the referees decided. Now she was in charge of not giving up the rhythm of the fight and got a wazari to secure her third Olympic final in line. Although she still has a hard time talking about him, she Idalys immediately thought of her father. “This is the first time that I come to the Olympics without my dad being there,” she confesses, “so this medal is addressed to him. I decided to get here and do it for him ”.
That's why she Idalys looked so smiling on the Olympic podium. That is why she is not sure if this was the last time that Cuba saw her on a tatami, with the same lineage that has made her one of the most beloved athletes in a country that loves her champions. She still she feels that she can give more. She still has passion left to give to a sport that today, from the site that she welcomed for the first time to Olympic judo, she saw it grow once again.
And with her, Héctor Rodríguez, the man who gave Cuba its first Olympic title 45 years ago, arrived on the podium. And Ronaldo Veitía rose, the architect of so many victories, the teacher that we must not lose. Legna, Driulis, Amarilis, Revé, Daima, Yanet, Yalennis rose.
Yordanis Arencibia and the rest of the coaches came up. Doctors, psychologists, physical trainers rose. And so did a people that now, although they always wanted gold, can only tell Idalys how much they thank him for his heart and her lineage.
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