Dear Alberto,
On this July 25, 1976, it is 3 a.m. at my home in Mauritius. We got up with my two brothers to watch the athletics events of the Montreal Olympic Games. I am 15 years old, and for ten days, I have been going from surprise to wonder, fascinated especially by the teenage gymnast Nadia Comaneci who is teaching the whole world what perfection is.
But in my tropical night, that evening, I do not suspect that you, Alberto Juantorena, in a few minutes you will change my life, while you warm up before starting the 800 meters.
You are tall, 1m89, very muscular, even too much some say because the 800m is considered a long-distance race, you are apparently too heavy compared to your thinner and more formidable competitors in speed. The commentator barely knows you, reserving his remarks for the American champion Rick Wohluter, favorite. Your tall stature gives you an awkward look, your curly hair contributes to this impression of a quasi-artist, a little lost among the racing cars. And yet… from the 300m mark, when the competitors are able to fall back on their designated lanes, you are already in the lead. Wohluter catches up with you and gives the impression of being able to overtake you at the last bend, but you don’t give him a chance with your gigantic strides of 2m70. Your long legs spread out like upside-down wings beating the ground to propel you with power towards victory and a world record in 1 min 43 s. I have never seen so much efficiency and beauty in the gesture of running. I will learn later that you are called “El Elegante de las Pistas”.
Four days later, I woke up again in the middle of the night to see you in action in the 400m. It’s your favorite distance. You had apparently run the 800m to please your coach, the Polish Zygmunt Zabierkoski who, with a brilliant intuition, had seen you as both a sprinter and a stayer. Here you were up against another American, Fred Newhouse, a very tough one, the world record holder in the specialty. But you flew through this race, almost effortlessly, you slipped through and won in 44 min 26 s. You accomplished the first (and so far the only) in history this fantastic double. Everyone only talks about Nadia Comaneci, but there is also another perfect athlete at these games: you, “El Caballo”, the horse of the tracks, the thoroughbred with a style just as perfect as that of the magician of the beams.
I would have loved to be like you in those years, Alberto, to be able to stretch out in long, disproportionate strides, but alas, despite my efforts, I couldn’t do it: as a teenager not cut out for middle-distance running, I was also not brave enough for the colossal efforts that you were making, on your side. They say that you fainted after your intervals, that after your intense training sessions you had to be plunged into an ice bath to bring your temperature down. I was far, so far from that…
“The greatness of the running man”
But then, how have you changed my life?
Looking at you, in those two nights, I understood the greatness of the man who runs, the purity of this ancestral gesture, and guessed how noble it is. However, it was only forty-three years later that the trigger happened: thinking back to you, to those impressive images of power, I decided to run the first marathon of my life. And often, at difficult moments in training or in the race itself, when discouragement seemed to win, I saw your pace, your determination, your relentlessness, I told myself that I could not disappoint the “Caballo”. And that is how I managed to run the Paris marathon in October 2021.
“If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to change your life, run a marathon,” said the great Emil Zatopek.
Thanks for helping me with that, Alberto.
Who would have predicted such a destiny for me?….
The story doesn’t end there. One of my authors, M., whose friendship is as precious to me as his talent, is contacted by the management of Paris 2024 to run the Marathon for All. This irrepressible prankster answers them affirmatively, on one condition however: that he be accompanied by his publisher. Here I am embarking on a second marathon, not just any marathon this one: there will be 20,000 of us setting off on August 10, 2024 at 9 p.m., after the Olympic champions who, in the morning, will have run the same course.
An official Olympic race! With a medal for those who finish. Who would have predicted such a destiny for me?….
So, Alberto, I know you are retired, showered with honors by the Cuban regime, you are probably a grandfather peacefully enjoying happy days in Havana. But I imagine that you will not miss a single one of the events of Paris 2024. Perhaps you will even attend with kindness and a slight smile the Marathon for All on August 10, which will be broadcast around the world? When, while sipping your Cuba Libre, you see a silhouette panting on the climbs of Ville-d’Avray and Chaville, for example on this Côte du Pavé des Gardes with a 15% slope that even some motorcycles cannot climb, tell yourself that you are responsible not only for the suffering of this runner, but above all for his intense happiness to be there.
This happy marathon runner dedicates his race to you.