Peter Mannion

Her life changed under the most harrowing of circumstances, but Ana Fidelia Quirot 🇨🇺 wasn’t prepared to let it define her. Born in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, Ana Fidelia Quirot always had a passion for the sport, and her natural speed quickly earned her a place in the country’s specialised school sports system. Political boycotts prevented her from participating at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. By the time the next Olympics came, she had firmly established herself as a formidable competitor, winning gold medals in both the 400m & 800m at the IAAF World Cup, CAC Games, and Summer Universiade. During this period, she recorded personal best times of 49.62 and 1 : 54.44, respectively. On 23 January 1993, everything changed. Less than a year after earning her bronze medal in Barcelona, the seven-month-pregnant Quirot was at home preparing to heat water to wash her clothes. Due to domestic shortages at the time, everyday items such as laundry soap were scarce, and she relied on using isopropyl alcohol on a kerosene-powered cook stove. She poured the alcohol into the hot water in the pot, unaware that the stove wasn’t extinguished. The alcohol began to overflow from the pot and burst into flames when it hit the stove. Within a matter of seconds, Quirot’s upper body was engulfed in flames, and she was immediately rushed to the hospital. Due to her severe condition, doctors were required to perform an emergency medically induced labour. Tragically, her baby girl, named Javianna, died just over a week later. While in hospital and drifting in and out of consciousness, Quirot famously said to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, “I’m going to run again.” 🎤 And that she did. Between seven skin-graft surgeries, Quirot began her comeback and, by late 1993, was back on the track, where she won a heroic silver medal in the women’s 800m at the CAC Games. In 1995, she won her very first world title in Gothenburg in the most emphatic way and successfully defended it two years later in Athens. She last raced in 1998 with over 20 medals in international competitions. Many thought she wouldn’t run again. Not only did she do so, but she continued to dominate at the highest level. 📸 ullstein bild