Yulimar Rojas, a triple jump queen who injects spirit into the Venezuelan delegation (+Video)

Yulimar Rojas, multiple world champion in triple jump both outdoors and indoors and winner of the Olympic gold medal in that athletics event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, is not participating as an athlete in Paris 2024 because she is recovering from an Achilles heel injury she suffered in April, which forced her to undergo surgery, and then begin a long physical rehabilitation process with a view to recovering her optimal fitness.

But her forced absence from the competition did not prevent her from appearing in the French capital, where she acts as a special companion for the Venezuelan delegation, made up of 33 athletes, who are seeking to win multiple medals in different disciplines, something that they had not been able to do until Thursday.

In recent statements to Globovisión, a television channel specialized in news broadcasting, the Caracas native, who is a sports player for Anzoátegui -where she grew up in the Pozuelos parish of Puerto La Cruz-, revealed that she feels very happy to serve as a “cheerleader” for the national team, although she recalled that as long as she is healthy she would like to participate in more high-demand tests, as they serve to demonstrate her talent for “flying.”

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“I came to Paris to enjoy the Olympics and represent my country. I am also in this city to inject that strength (necessary to motivate the Creoles to be successful),” said the 28-year-old athlete, who exactly three calendars ago was crowned in Tokyo 2020, since the event in which she achieved the yellow metal was held on August 1, 2021, due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rojas, who won a silver medal in Rio 2016 and has been recognized seven times as Venezuelan Athlete of the Year, was chosen by the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) to carry the national flag along with weightlifter Julio Mayora at the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, held last Friday on the Seine River, but the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prevented her from doing so because she was not registered for events in this edition of the most important global meeting. She had to give up the honor of taking the national flag to judoka Ariquelis Barrios.

The jumper (behind Anriquelis Barrios) accompanied the national delegation in its parade along the Seine River in Paris / Photo: COV Press

The IOC’s refusal did not motivate her to leave the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis – where she takes advantage of her free time to train on a stationary bike – but rather it encouraged her to carry out her work of inspiring the natives to achieve victories in different tournaments in Paris 2024 with greater commitment.

“(Serving as a cheerleader) is an added bonus for my delegation, for my team, which is going to give its all for our country. Beyond that, I’m going to add and give a little more of that injection of energy,” Rojas added to the COV press department and to the one that the EFE news agency considers one of the great stars absent from Paris 2024 along with French footballer Kylian Mbappé.

Valencia / Joseph Ñambre