The legendary Cuban judo coach, Ronaldo Veitía Valdivié, came out of the coma in which he was due to an alleged cardiovascular accident, but remains hospitalized in an intensive care room in Alicante, Spain, where he was visiting his son.
Leader of the national teams for more than three decades, Veitía had been admitted for several days without revealing the cause, although it was known that he was in a coma due to various complications, according to several people close to his family reported on social networks.
This Saturday, Yanet Bermoy, twice Olympic subtitler and one of Veitía’s outstanding students, reported on Facebook that the outstanding 74-year-old coach had come out of a coma. “For Cuba and for the world. Teacher Veitia just gave the Devil an ippon. Recently, her son called me, that the teacher woke up from a coma, ”she wrote.
“He squeezes his hands and small tears of joy flow from his eyes when we put an audio on the videos that we have downloaded, related to the work of Judo that he did together with his athletes, his technical group and the Cuban people,” described the once stellar representative. Cuban in the minor divisions.
“Glory to almighty God. Now to recover samurai. We love you so much from all corners of the world. Samurai blessings,” added Bermoy, who has been monitoring Veitía’s health status for several days.
In Bermoy’s own publication, other disciples of the coach also sent messages of encouragement. Diadenys Luna, bronze medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, cataloged Veitía as a father, “the strongest in the world.”
“I know you will not let yourself be defeated, you are a champion. I love you, Cuba loves you, San Lázaro will protect you. Speedy recovery and thousands of blessings”, commented Luna, holder of the world championship in the 1995 Chiba competition, where he competed under the command of Veitía.
Baseball player Frank Camilo Morejón, wrestler Yowlys Bonne, Paralympic judoka Dalidaivis Rodríguez, renowned journalist Julita Osendi and other athletes who made up the national judo team in the Veitía era (Dayaris Mestre and Greter Romero), also showed their support for the star coach, who came to have a prognosis reserved on previous dates due to an alleged cardiovascular accident.
Ronaldo Veitía is one of the greatest references of the tatami at a global level, as evidenced by the “Jigoro Kano” statuette that he received in September 2018 at his exaltation ceremony to the World Judo Hall of Fame.
Exactly one year ago, Veitía offered an exclusive interview to OnCuba after concluding the judo competitions of the Tokyo Olympic Games, where the Cuban specialists of the discipline only won a silver medal thanks to the stellar Idalys Ortiz
Ronaldo Veitía: “Making history is not easy”
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“I have followed everything I could and I am not satisfied with the Cuban performance, in any way. I understand that the pandemic has affected, but everyone has suffered. However, it has been very exciting to follow Idalys. I have seen her very well, very mature, impetuous, she has made me remember many things that we lived together”, she told us about the Antillean performance in the Japanese capital.
In addition, based on his infinite wisdom, Veitía wanted to send a message to Cuban judo that could perfectly serve as advice a year later: “He who does not attend to the future is left an orphan. They must keep that in mind. We need to recover solidity and stability, otherwise the path is uncertain.”
