In his presentation at the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Yulimar Rojas I danced. As always, so Caribbean, so happy, the cameras focused on her, she took some strange steps -no bachata, no salsa, nothing- and the audience enjoyed it. “Let’s go there,” the Venezuelan shouted under the ovation of the Hungarian public. It was the only moment of the whole night that the jumper enjoyed. For the first time in a long time, perhaps since the 2016 Rio Olympics, her last great defeat in the triple jump, Rojas was not amused, trembled, suffered and was about to fail. At the last attempt, she arrived locked in eighth place, an inappropriate place, and only another great final jump, like that world record at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, returned the gold that she had always been hers. In the end she exceeded 15 meters (15.09). In the end, she is world champion again, for the fourth time in a row.
Later, in his celebration, he cried. It wasn’t a cry of joy, like so many other times, it was anger, tension, even frustration. How had she gotten to that point? “I never think about winning because I strive every day to be able to be 100% in competition. There are circumstances that may not always go well, but I work to correct them when necessary”, he commented in the mixed zone in the previous one and he was right: “There are circumstances that may not always go well. Like a bad day on the board. Throughout the competition, Rojas made three null attempts (the first attempt, the fourth and the fifth) and that conditioned her.
In fact, she was very close to being eliminated: she narrowly missed the improvement. With a jump of 14.33 meters, a training jump for her, she placed eighth and the Italian Octavia Cestonaro could leave her out. She had to beat her life’s best mark, but it was possible. She did not do it. And Rojas breathed calmly until the nulls returned and nothing came out. Throughout the contest, as always, she talked to her coach, Ivan Pedroso, and he transmitted calm, small corrections, but the jumper multiplied her nerves each time. Her until she got that last leap and she was able to break free of her. Just as she saw her register on the markers and check that she was placed first, she stretched out on the ground and put her hands over her face. Defeat had been close at hand, but she was world champion again, for the fourth time in a row.