Yipsi Moreno González (born November 19, 1980, in Camagüey) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

er. She is a triple

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and Olympic gold medalist, a former world junior record holder and current area record holder. In 2016, after the 2008 Olympic gold medallist Belarus athlete Aksana Miankova received a disqualification by IAAF, Moreno ostensibly became Olympic hammer throw champion for Cuba in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Early life and education

At the age of 11, she was recruited by the Cerro Pelado Sports School in her hometown, where she started practicing shot put and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

. Hammer throw was not a regular women's event at the time, but following its introduction in Cuba in 1993, she eventually concentrated on this event and she earned a place on the national junior team in 1996.

Athletics career

1997–2000

In 1997, Moreno won the Pan American Junior Championships in Havana with a throw of 55.74 metres, improving the two-year-old championship record with ten metres. She beat the second-place finisher Maureen Griffin by a 46 centimetre margin. This year she threw past the 60 metre mark for the first time, with 61.96 m. The next year, she finished fourth at the

1998 World Junior Championships 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, this time 29 centimetres behind Griffin. After the World Junior Championships, Moreno started working with a new coach Eladio Hernández, himself a former hammer thrower. The cooperation paid off almost immediately as Moreno established a new world junior record on 29 May 1999 with 66.34 metres at altitude in Mexico City. Later that year, she won the silver medal at the Pan American Games with 63.03 metres, only beaten by

Dawn Ellerbe Dawn Ellerbe (born April 3, 1974, in Central Islip, New York) is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the hammer throw. She is currently the assistant athletic director at California State University, Northridge and a popular fash ...

who threw 65.36.Pan American Games
- GBR Athletics At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

the same year her only valid throw measured 58.68 metres, giving her an eighteenth place in the final (there was no qualification round). At her next major competition, the

2000 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 ...

, she improved to fourth place.

2001–2002

In 2001, she broke the 70 metre barrier for the first time, and improved her personal best to 70.65 metres as she won the

in Edmonton. Three weeks later she won the silver medal at the

2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, between 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6,757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 spor ...

behind Manuela Montebrun of France, who had finished fifth in Edmonton. In 2002, she improved to 71.47 metres in Madrid in July. She was selected to represent the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

held in the same city two months later, and finished second.

2003–2005

In July 2003, she improved further to 75.14 metres. At the Pan American Games she won the gold ahead of compatriot Yunaika Crawford, smashing Dawn Ellerbe's championship record with a 74.25 metres throw. At the

in August she defended her title with a second round effort of 73.33 metres. Her third round result of 72.52 m further secured the gold as runner-up

Olga Kuzenkova Olga Sergeyevna Kuzenkova (russian: Ольга Серге́евна Кузенкова; born 4 October 1970 in Smolensk) is a Russian track and field athlete, the first woman to throw the hammer more than 70 meters. She has tested positive for ...

managed no more than 71.71 m. Commenting on her victory, Moreno stated that she "was happy for Cuba and my family". The inaugural

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

in Szombathely, where she obtained another triumph, concluded the season. At the end of the year she was named ''Cuban Sportswoman of the Year'' for 2003. 2004 was an Olympic year and Moreno was considered the pre-event favourite for the hammer throw contest. Not only was she in lead of the world ranking, her new personal best and South American record of 75.18 metres from the National Cuban Olympics in Havana in April was the world leading result. In the Olympic final, however, her chance of winning soon dwindled as Olga Kuzenkova took the lead and Moreno fouled her first throw. Moreno went on to foul on three of her five remaining efforts, managing 73.36 metres in the fourth round, while Kuzenkova had improved to 75.02 metres in the third round. Yunaika Crawford took the bronze medal behind Moreno. The

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

was the only major competition for Moreno in 2004. She did not compete at the

and experienced a foot injury which sidelined her for the first half of 2005. This meant she was dethroned from the leading position at the world ranking, but she recovered the position after a gold medal at the 2005 World Championships and a victory at the 2005 World Athletics Final. For the first time in her career, however, she went a whole season without improving her personal best.

2006–2007

In early 2006, Moreno won her first

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

title, setting another championship record with 70.22 metres. In August she again lost her top ranking position, this time to Russia's

Tatyana Lysenko Tatyana Viktorovna Lysenko (russian: Татьяна Викторовна Лысенко, born 9 October 1983 in Bataysk) is a Russian hammer thrower. Her career has been blighted by repeated doping infractions. In February 2019, the Court of Ar ...

who had established a new world record of 77.80 m. Moreno's season best mark was 74.69 m from the Ostrava Super Grand Prix in May. She finished third at the 2006 World Athletics Final and the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, both times behind Kamila Skolimowska of Poland. On 3 March 2007, she broke her own area record as she threw 75.64 metres in Kingston, Jamaica. Establishing the new record in the fifth round of the competition, she followed this up with a 75.43 metres throw in the final round, again longer than her previous personal best. "I have had a good start this year, without physical problems", Moreno explained. On 17 June she improved the record again, with a 76.36 m throw from the second round in the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

2008

At the 2008 Olympics Women's Hammer Throw final, Moreno again won a silver medal, this time behind

Aksana Miankova Aksana Miankova, also transliterated as Oksana Menkova, ( be, Аксана Мянькова, born 28 March 1982) is a Belarusian hammer thrower. Her personal best of 78.69 m ranks her as the third best woman of all-time. Career Miankova be ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, who threw an Olympic Record distance of 76.34 meters in her second-to-last round. Moreno was in the silver medal position with one throw left, and in her final effort, she fell short of Miankova with a throw of 75.20 meters, although it was her best throw of the final. She was declared 2008 Olympic Champion in 2016, after Belarusian Aksana Miankova was disqualified for using prohibited substances.

Personal bests

*Hammer throw: 76.62 m –

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, 9 September 2008

Achievements

Footnotes

References

*
IAAF Focus on Athletes

2008 Olympics Woman's Hammer Throw Results

External links