SAN JUAN.— Cubans Ioamnet Quintero, Yoel García and Aliecer Urrutia were inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Hall of Fame, December 18 in Havana, according to the regional federation.

Quintero, García and Urrutia, Olympic and World Championship medalists were congratulated by Puerto Rican Víctor López, President of the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Federation (CACAC).

High jumper Quintero excelled during the 1993 Stuttgart World Championship, where she won Cuba’s first gold medal in outdoor competition. In this German city, she flew over the bar at 1.99 meters, relegating her compatriot Silvia Costa to second place.

That same year, Quintero had her best performances, (2.00 outdoors and 2.01 indoors) this latter still standing as a Central American record. Over the course of her 15-year career, she participated in three Olympic Games with her most important accomplishment being a bronze medal in Barcelona 1992.

She added a victory in the Havana World Cup of 1992 and two gold medals in the Pan Americans (Havana ’91 and Mar del Plata ’95).

Urrutia and García are renowned for their performances in the triple jump. Urrutia held the indoor world record from March 1, 1997 – 17.83 meters – until 2010, when France’s Teddy Tamgho jumped for 17.90 meters.

During this same season he beat his compatriot García in the Paris Indoor World Cup and in the summer captured a bronze in the Athens Outdoor World Championship, where his teammate Yoelbi Quesada set a national record with a 17.85 jump.

His accomplishments include a silver medal in the University World Championship in Sicily 1997 and another silver at the beginning of his juvenile career in Cali during the 1993 Central American and Caribbean championship.

García had a magnificent career in sports including a second place finish in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, setting a record for Cubans in the history of these games.

He added a gold medal in the Paris ’97 Indoor World competition, the year during which he made his best jump (17.62), in Sindelfingen.

These outstanding Cuban jumpers join 21 other compatriots already installed in the Central American and Caribbean Athletics Hall of Fame, including Javier Sotomayor, Ana Fidelia Quirot, Silvio Leonard, Alberto Juantorena and Enrique Figuerola.