Cuban sprinter Omara Durand is on the front page of the website of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

Tokyo, August 23 (RHC/PL)-- Cuban sprinter Omara Durand is on the front page of the website of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on Monday, as a three-time champion of the previous event in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Durand, who is visually impaired, won gold medals in Brazil in the 100, 200 and 400 meters in the T12 category, a performance that catapulted her to win the award for best female athlete at the Paralympic Sport Awards.

Now the Queen of Speed will have the eyes of the world's fans on her, when she defends the three Paralympic titles she won five years ago at the Japanese Games, to be inaugurated tomorrow, but above all of her daughter Ericka.

"She understands perfectly what I do.  I will give my all on the track to make her proud of me. Although she longs to be by my side all the time, she will be at home and watch me race.  Her applause will be with me," she said of her little girl.

Omara Durand, who also won the Paralympic titles in the 100m and 400m at London 2012, has a 10-year unbeaten record, and that mark adds more pressure on her to extend the record and always stay on her toes.

"I've gone 10 years without losing and that's an incredible thing.  It makes me prepare harder every day to maintain my status.  It's always exciting, and any competition makes one nervious. What I do is relax, talk to my friends and listen to music," she said.

According to the sprinter, when the COVID-19 epidemic hit and the world was paralyzed, she did not have her guide Yunior Kindelán around and had to adapt to a training regimen alone.

"It has been an atypical year.  COVID-19 came and changed everyone's life, the Games were suspended and there was a vacuum in the world of sports.  I spent several months at home, but I never stopped training even without my guide.  I did a lot of exercises to maintain my muscle tone," she said.

Ahead of the Japanese event, he returned to training with Kindelán and was very careful to comply with hygiene and social distancing measures so as not to get infected and to arrive in top form at the Paralympic Games.