Ihosvany Hernández Rivera (born , in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) is a Cuban former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player and three-time Olympian who played with the Cuban men's national volleyball team. He competed with the national team at the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. He helped the Cuban team win the silver medal at the 1990 FIVB World Championship and the bronze medal at the 1998 FIVB World Championship. Hernández also helped the Cuban national team win gold medals at the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

, and a bronze medal at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

2001 Defection

In 2001, Hernández was one of six players on the Cuban men's national volleyball team to leave a hotel they stayed at in

Flanders, Belgium Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture ...

for a tournament, and from there rode a train to Italy for political asylum. The other players were Leonel Marshall, Jorge Luis Hernández,

Ángel Dennis Ángel Dennis Diaz (born 13 June 1977) is a Cuban-born Italian volleyball player. Biography He played for IVECO Palermo from 1998 to 2000. With Cuba national team, he won a World League in 1998 and an America's Cup in 2001, before abandoning h ...

, Yasser Romero, and

Ramón Gato Ramón Gato Moya (born ) is a former Cuban male volleyball player. He was part of the Cuba men's national volleyball team. He competed with the national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the ...

. Once they were granted asylum in Italy, this group was referred to as "the defectors".

Clubs

* Ciudad de Habana (1990)

References

External links