Running, a way out of poverty for world champ Marileidy Paulino

The promising handball player who almost made the national team turned out to be an outstanding sprinter, but her motivation to stay on track was straightforward: escaping childhood poverty.

The fifth of six children grew up in a single-parent family. She kept training and running barefoot because there was an incentive.

“I came to athletics because they started paying me, and I said, ‘Well, they’re giving me something here.’ I had to stay here even if it was hard,” said the corporal from the Dominican Air Force of her early days on track.

“I started running barefoot, then I did it with a sock. Afterwards, I think they gave me some sneakers, then I was able to buy some. Everything was a process. I remember that when they took me to my first coach, the first day I ran away because I couldn’t stand the training. I couldn’t stand that demand, but then they came looking for me again.”

It turned out to be a worthwhile decision. Her exploits as a 100m and 200m athlete earned her a flat from the government, her first life-changing moment.

Then, under the guidance of her Cuban coach Yaseen Perez Gomez, Paulino stepped up to the 400m in 2020 with great success.

Her qualification for and eventual silver at the Tokyo Olympics behind Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo was confirmation of her indefatigable spirit in rising to challenges, and also her exceptional athletic prowess.

Whenever she reflects on her Olympic achievement, she is still clearly blown away by the huge reception that awaited her on arrival in the capital, Santo Domingo, and the opportunities it opened for her family.

Retired baseball star Vladimir Guerrero, the other famous athlete from her hometown of Nizao, gave her mum a TV so she could watch her daughter compete. “It was something incredible!” she recalls.