TWO Cubans who reached the exclusive heights of the London Olympics were Leuris Pupo and Hanser García. Shooter Leuris Pupo won a gold medal and Hanser García was the first Cuban swimmer ever to qualify for the finals in the 100-meter freestyle competition. But the road to glory was not without challenges for these athletes.

Leuris commented, "I was totally concentrated, I would even say a bit out of it. Even after I won the gold, it was hard for me to believe it. I can say that, yes, I was very confident. I was competing against myself. I had the thorn in my side of having failed on three previous occasions (9th in Sydney 2000, 8th in Athens 2004 and 7th in Beijing 2008), but I qualified in third place with 586 – two identical rounds of 293 – I knew I had enough to go for a better score in the final.

"Even this year, in the Milan and Munich World Cups, I didn’t do that great, 8th in Germany with 580 and a poor 29th in Italy with 570. I was shaking this all off, as well as the damage the pistol suffered during the Pan Americans in Guadalajara. The high-altitude training sessions in Guatemala helped, the exercises to improve my circulation and my hold on the pistol, the races, hitting the gym, though not too hard."

He settled the score with flying colors, winning a gold medal and setting an Olympic record with 34 bull’s eyes in the final, putting him in an excellent position, going into the World Cup competition coming up October 22-28 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Moving from the target range to the pool, Cubans across the island pulled for ‘Pollo’ (Chicken, Hanser García) and celebrated his qualification for the final.

Speaking with this reporter he said, "Among my opponents, the only ones I didn’t know were those from the U.S. and Australia. All the rest I had defeated, or been defeated by, during the European circuit - a very valuable experience to boost my confidence and improve my start entering the water, even though I only do one dolphin before starting to stroke and paddle. (Swimmers usually do three to save energy and gain ground before starting to stroke.)

"The eighth lane… I have a lot of confidence in it. That’s where I won in Canet, I put less pressure on myself and have the opportunity to surprise others. That’s what happened in the semifinal."

When asked how he felt psychologically, Hanser responded, "I was tired when I reached the final, I hardly slept the night before, I swam something like 18 stretches of 100 meters in my mind, telling myself I had to finish under 48 seconds, under 48… It affected me. I was hoping to place between fourth and sixth. I wanted more. After the 50 meters, I lacked concentration, a reflection to a large degree of the pressure I felt."