The former Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor received the Legend award during the ceremony of Panam Sports Awards 2023, held this Saturday night in the city of Miami.
In social networks The Pan American sports entity highlighted: “We celebrate the king of high jump Javier Sotomayor, from Cuba, now honored as a Panam Sports Legend. His legacy in athletics is a testament to his exceptional talent and unbreakable spirit. A sports hero who has raised the bar for everyone!”
Sotomayor was awarded the award after a month of voting in which sports fans in America chose the best athletes in the region, she said. Panama Sports on your website.
In statements to the digital portal JITalso known as Prince of Heights said that “being chosen among so many famous men is of great satisfaction, and that it happens the year in which I celebrate the 30th anniversary of my world record “It adds a special flavor.”
He Barcelona 1992 Olympic champion He said he felt “excited, very happy and proud, not only for me, but also for all Cubans. I know they are enjoying this award more than me.”
Precisely, on July 27 of this year, Sotomayor celebrated the 30th anniversary of her world record in the high jump specialty obtained in the city of Salamanca, Spain, and set in 2,45 metros.
Currently, Sotomayor serves as secretary of the Cuban Athletics Federation, in addition to also advising her son Jaxier, who Last year he became champion of Spain in the under-16 category of that discipline, after breaking his personal best and achieving a record of 1.91 meters.
Los Panam Sports Awards 2023 had the presence of more than 70 athletes from the 41 member countries of Panam Sports and was a favorable event to recognize the best of continental sport that it had in the past. Santiago 2023 Pan American and Parapan American Games an event where the region’s talent shined.
Among the winners are the Mexican diver Osmar Olvera as the best male athlete and the swimmer Maggie Mac Neil, in the female sector. While the Colombian baseball and Mexican soccer teams were the most prominent among men and women, respectively.
In the first ceremony of this event held in 2019 The best performances of the Pan American Games in Lima that took place that year were awarded. In that occasion, Cuban fighter Mijaín López -three-time Olympic and Pan-American champion and four-time world champion- was among the nominees.
However, superstar athletes like Francisco Barretto, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Mariana Pajon y Carl Lewis They were among the winners of that first edition of the contest.
