Cuban Olympic champ trains to compete in Paris as a refugee
Fernando Dayan Jorge Enriquez, a champion sprint canoeist who fled his native Cuba three years ago, will head to the Paris Olympics as a member of the Refugee Olympic Team. Jorge Enriquez gave Cuba a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games, but after defecting and crossing the US border with Mexico, he now trains in canals that crisscross Cape Coral, Florida.
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00:00I'm going to throw it at 5 or 10 and I'm going to make a change with Pidequeño to pick up the food here and then I'm going to throw it again.
00:24It has to stay there.
00:26We were going to do the training base in Mexico for 21 days to prepare for the World Cup in 2021.
00:38We were going on a trip and I disappeared as soon as I got to the airport.
00:46I escaped and I was in Mexico for several days and then I crossed the border like normal people.
01:17Thanks to that person who created this organization and that many athletes can compete under this flag.
01:24I am going to represent it with great pride and with the greatest dignity in the world.
01:32I never gave up on my dream and that is the message I would give to any other athlete.
01:39I never gave up, even though I had a very hard time in my life.