“Someday my record will be surpassed. In my case, the only way for that not to happen is for the high jump to disappear”, declared the Prince of Heights, whose record of 2.45 meters in Salamanca still stands 30 years after it was set.

While participating in a conference at the Press Center of these Pan American Games, together with the legendary pole vaulter Sergey Bubka and the wrestling colossus Mijaín Lopez, Sotomayor assured that records are there to be broken.

“Just as I beat the record of the Swede Patrik Sjöberg, someone will come along to beat mine and I will be the first to congratulate him,” he added, who said he felt at ease since he arrived in Chile to attend the Pan American Games.

He also valued the organization of the event as “a very positive Games in all senses” and also had words of praise for the Chilean athletes, whose performance he considered “worthy of a host country”.

Precisely, regarding the added pressure of competing as a local in a multi-sport event, “Soto” recalled his experience in Havana 1991, where he experienced a heartbreaking finish.

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