The Cuban sports family pays tribute this August 13th to its greatest athlete, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, on the day he would have turned 96 years old.

Havana, August 13 (RHC)-- The Cuban sports family pays tribute this August 13th to its greatest athlete, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, on the day he would have turned 96 years old.

Born in 1926 and died nine decades later, on November 25, 2016 -- Fidel was a man in permanent revolution.

He led Cuba's liberation from the neocolonial yoke, from the anti-imperialist boot, and from the ferocious dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

Then he did not stop founding -until his last breath- in all sectors of society.

Assuring that we would take sports as far as possible and that its practice would be a right for all Cubans was the prelude to the immense work built in this sector, marked by resounding triumphs inside and outside the island.

Building sports fields and facilities in every part of the country; developing means and implements for the practice; training and overcoming the necessary technical force; building specialized schools such as Eide, Espa, Esfaar; enabling a competitive system from the grassroots to the first level; competing widely at international level; developing applied sciences; being supportive; and caring for athletes, sports glories and their families were some of their most important postulates and ideas.

Along this path, far from mercantilism, barbaric professionalism, chauvinism and other evils of our time, Cuba was among the powers of sports in America and the world, and most importantly, it created in our society the necessary knowledge to live in health and harmony through physical activity.

Every great victory (hundreds, they do not fit in these lines), every great athlete (hundreds), every unforgettable experience bears Fidel's imprint. His hand and intelligence was in everything: in the strategy, in the solution, in the farewell of those who would make the feat, in the reception, in the embrace and the prize.

It is not possible to analyze the great work of Cuban sport without stopping at him, its architect, its architect, its repairer, its motivator, its emotional support for decades.

Even today and for a long time to come, we will surely ask ourselves what Fidel would do in every tough situation. And he, also with his foot in the stirrup, will come back to prowl for us to act lucidly, transparently and revolutionarily.

Ninety-six years ago, in Biran, the man who would become the greatest home run hitter in Cuban sports was born.  And it is not true, he did not leave on November 25, 2016.  He continues to enter the batter's box and continues to give signals from the dugout.