The Caribbean Stormbringer
The Excelencias Group brings you details on the Santiago-born athlete Ana Fidelia Quirot, a specialist in 400 and 800 meter dash races. Devoted to athletics since she was twelve years old, Ana Fidelia was baptized “The Caribbean Stormbringer”.
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She was just a child and was already showing her talent to be a great sportswoman. Her Physical Education professor in Palma Soriano, the cradle of this glory of Cuban sport, saw a high-performance athlete in that little girl and he wasn’t wrong. Ana Fidelia Quirot soon became “The Caribbean Stormbringer”.
Her victories were the result of the discipline and perseverance that characterized Ana Fidelia throughout her professional career, which made the athlete win several medals when representing Cuban athletics.
When Ana Fidelia was only 23 years old, in September 1986, she became the queen of the 2nd Latin American Athletics Championship, held in Havana, where she went up for the gold in 400 and 800 meter dash; although she had the international experience of the 13th Central American and Caribbean Games, carried out in Colombia, where she ranked first in 4 x 400 relay race.
In January 1993, Ana Fidelia suffered from severe second and third-degree burns in 38 per cent of her body due to a domestic accident. When the news was put out, the Cuban people paid close attention to her evolution; the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, visited her at “Hermanos Ameijeiras” hospital.
This time around, she had to endure a larger race, with strict discipline, including twenty one operations to improve the elasticity in the damaged parts of her body; but she was victorious as a fine example of the women from Santiago.
After the success of Cuban medicine, “The Caribbean Stormbringer” returned in November 1993 to the 800 meter dash and won the silver medal in the Central American and Caribbean Games that took place in Puerto Rico, but the most important thing was the ovation of the public that made her run again.
Afterwards, in 1995, she participated in the World Athletics Championship in Goteborg, Sweden and got the gold medal, standing as the champion in 800 meter dash with one minute 56.11 seconds. The list seems to be endless, but perhaps this prize gives us a more-accurate image of the remarkable athlete. The specialized media labeled her best sportswoman of Latin America and the Caribbean in 1989, 1991, 1995 and 1997.
Ana Fidelia Quirot presently attends events for sports veterans and glories, as well as PPRR activities at the seat of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), in Cuba. She is the mother of Carla Fidelia de la Caridad and Alberto Alejandro, her greatest treasures.
Since 1960, every March 23 represents a new year in the life of this sportswoman, who has been the five-time champion of the Grand Prix 1987 - 1991, chosen as Cuba’s most outstanding athlete in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, and distinguished with the trophy granted by the Latin American Community and handed by the King of Spain to the best sportswoman in the region in 1988 and, a year later, as the finest female athlete worldwide. In 2003 she was inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Hall of Fame, she was given the Dignity Medal and the decoration Order to the Sports Merit.
