El 3 de noviembre/November 3rd

 Feliz cumpleaños a ... ¡Lázaro Martínez! (1997-      )

"Le llaman suerte, pero es constancia. Le llaman casualidad, pero es disciplina. Le lleman genética, pero es sacrificio. Ellos hablan, tú entrena." -Lázaro Martínez (Facebook, 2021). 

A Cuban athlete from Guantanamera specializing in the triple jump and long jump (triple salto and salto de longitud), Martínez is a former world youth record holder (17.24 meters, or 56 feet 6.5 inches in the triple jump in 2016). His mom is former 400 meter sprinter Isabel Santryll. As a young boy Martínez played many sports, including basketball and judo, but when he was 11 he began working with Cuban coach Manuel Guilarte, whom he credits for instilling a love of the sport in him.  Martínez placed 8th in the triple jump in the Río Olympics of 2016. He currently lives and trains in Havana, Cuba and is set to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in summer of 2021. Watch him interviewed (with the reporter speaking broken Spanish) after the triple jump in the 2014 World Junior Championships here. The picture to the right if from Lázaro Martínez's Facebook page, posted in 2021. I found it interesting for Spanish class discussions because of the billboard of Che Guevara in the back (this is a stadium in Havana).