Jorge Martínez Wilson, the best judoka in Ciego de Ávila's history due to his competitive results, does not know pride and lacks any desire for prominence, despite his 10-year spent in the Cuban national team.
He has shown it in his sports career: when he supported a friend, when at some point he said: “let him go, he's better positioned in the ranking. I stay "or when, off the tatami mat, he does not hesitate to share or help any of his rivals. He does not know resentment, because "it is a bottomless abyss and none ca have a good opinion about it."
The last victory over one of the rivals in the 81 kilogram division was at the Champions Ceremony, held in the city of Cárdenas, Matanzas, where he defeated Yaser Baeza by disqualification.
I know very well about the talent of that 29 years-old man because I havs observed him since he started in sports when he was about 11 years old, he does not stop dreaming in the search for better results, although for him, the sport career it has always been full of obstacles, between falls, injuries, injustices, defeats and victories.
Not long ago, Jorgito, as those closest to him call him, spoke for the first time with a Granma newspaper's reporter.
—Moments of greater enjoyment within the sport.
—The first time I won the absolute senior championship, in 2009, when I was fighting in the 73-kilogram division. Over the years, I climbed to 81 kilos, where I won the bronze medal in the Pan American Games in Lima-2019, and the silver medal in the World Cup in Belgium, in 2013; also the team gold medal at the Central American Games in Barranquilla, Colombia. My victory was decisive in that result.
—At 29 years old, nothing is finished in judo. What does it take to stay in the elite?
—A lot of dedication, discipline, intelligence and take care of my injuries.
"What has been your most desired dream?"
—Win an Olympic or World medal. I can't stop dreaming
—What great successes or failures do you imagine, what do you envision in your future?
- I have not thought much in the distant future, but in the near goals and how I prepare to face them. Right now I just won the Champions Ceremony, but I believe that my future will be linked to teaching everything I have learned to the new generations. I will be where I need to be and believe I am useful. I have been during 10 years in the team and almost a lifetime in judo. It is difficult to detach from it.
-"All falls are painful." Do defeats put you off? How do you enjoy the victories?
—Defeats hurt because a sportman prepares and trains for victories. One embraces defeats in a bitterly way and gets the best experience of them. I enjoy the victories with great joy because I think that the rival could also win it.
- How is the preparation in the national team?
—Daily, we train in two sessions, in the mornings, judo and in the afternoons, physical training. We practice six or seven hours taking into account both activities; it also depends on the stage in which we are. If there are competitions, the training is shorter, but with greater intensity.
—The qualification to the Olympic Games is tricky.
—The qualification to the next Olympic Games in my division is almost impossible. Financial problems affect a lot and there are athletes from other better placed divisions. I don't think I have had many opportunities. I have stopped participating in many competitions and when you do not compete with the elite, you do not reach it. Time passes and the opportunities are less and less.
—What is the current situation of Cuban judo?
-It's good. It has several boys and girls who want to impose themselves. The talent exists, but they need to work and compete with the world's elite, something that due to economic problems we have not done.
-"How does Jorgito relax off the tatami mat?"
—I listen to music, dance and watch television series
-"Why judo?"
—I was a very active boy and I loved everything that had to do with combat sports. The judo gym was close to my house and one day my friends from the neighborhood cheered me up. And here I am.
—Let's go back to the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. I think you could beat Medickson del Orbe, from the Dominican Republic.
—I expected that victory because I prepared myself to the maximum and my coach and I drew up a very good tactical plan, which I was fulfilling to the very detail, but there was an oversight in the golden score and that was the victory. You know how things happen. Contrary to what many think, Medickson has a very high competitive level. He does not train in the Dominican Republic. I do not mean to justify defeat, but it is the truth.
-"How many Japanese judokas have you faced?"
—I had the opportunity to face two Japanese sportmen, with one victory and one defeat. You always learn from them. They know how to conduct combat with controlled mastery and aggressiveness. You can go ahead or behind that they seem immutable and when you give it the slightest opportunity you are a dead man. They know when to attack, at the right time.
-"What is a training camp and how many have you participated in, alongside which famous judokas?"
—A training camp is a concentration of judokas from different nations; in other words, it is fought in training with the same rigor as the competition, but without an arbitrator. Nobody wins or loses. I have had the opportunity to be in two training camps in Germany and Hungary, together with great figures, such as the Greek Ilias Iliadis and the 10 times world champion, the Frenchman Teddy Riner.
-"What is your Tokui Waza (favorite technique)?"
—Seoi nage and kosoto gake, although I dominate others.
—What has Ivan Silva from Matanzas, one of the strongest rivals you have had inside and outside the country, meant in your sports career?
—I faced him for the first time in 2013 and I beat him, in a Cerro Pelado Cup; then we saw each other again in the national championship that same year and I beat him again. If I tell you something, you don't believe me: in official competitions he has never beaten me, but he is a great athlete, very combative, talented and intelligent, with a very high technical level. For me, he is the best current Cuban judoka and one of the best in the world in the 90 kilogram division.
"We know each other very well, but I tell you quite frankly that if we were to face each other again, I think the victory would be his. Unless he was careless (laughs).
«He has helped me to grow as a judoka and I think I have helped him at least a little bit. We had a very big rivalry on the tatami mat. We were often bleeding in the combats but personally, we get along each other.
Jorge Martínez Wilson, graduated in Physical Culture, four times champion of Cuba in 81 kilograms and once in 73, has the warrior vocation of the Spartans. He seems to want to win all and feels like he hasn't won anything yet. He knows it well, because there is nothing easy in judo, especially for those who dream of Olympus.