“We must see how world sports evolve; nobody knows yet how far we are going to go, in an irreversible way for now, with that sad transformation of amateur sports and the Olympics into a competition of professionals.”
Quotes
“While it is tragic to turn health care into a form of merchandise, it is also tragic to turn something as noble as sports and physical exercise, something so closely related to human health and wellbeing, into some kind of merchandise.”
“(…) sport is well-being, quality of life, health, happiness and honour for the peoples, and it is perhaps the most efficient instrument to fight against criminal tendencies, drugs and many other vices that beset modern societies.”
“While violence and war spread and reign in the world, Cuba and its people will rise up as defenders and symbols of the most human and genuine principles that must and can reign on this Earth.”
"Athletes are bought and sold as if they were some kind of merchandise. Many of them are serious people who love the country where they were born, but they are not allowed to take their own decisions."
"In the mind of the Olympic founder, the idea of salaried sports or the buying and selling of athletes never occurred. That was also the noble objective of the Cuban Revolution, involving the duty of promoting sports just as health, education, science, culture and the arts, always the undeniable principles of the Revolution".