First in Flight

For triple jump champion Yuliana Perez, the Los Angeles Invitational on Saturday will not only be a test of how far she can go but will mark an anniversary of how far she has come.

From Tucson, where she was born, to her family’s native Cuba and back again.

Her parents, seeking freedom and a better life, left Cuba in a rickety old boat while Perez’s mother was pregnant with her.

Years later, Perez fought to return to the U.S. after circumstances took her back to Cuba.

Three years ago today, Perez, carrying only a worn yellow backpack and the inspirational memory of her late mother, made her way home, boarding an airplane in Cuba and flying to Tucson.

“I think about my mother’s strength and try to carry that with me,” said Perez, the reigning U.S. outdoor champion in the triple jump. “She almost drowned until a helicopter came and rescued her. We could have died, but she wouldn’t give up.”

Perez’s own life has been a struggle. Her father, with whom she’d had little contact, went to prison for burglary when she was very young. When Perez was 3, her mother, Osmayda, was killed by a stray bullet that struck her in the head as she looked out of her bedroom window.

Perez and her two younger brothers bounced around foster homes for a couple of years before being sent back to Cuba to live with their grandmother.

It was in Havana, surrounded by poverty, that she blossomed into an athletic prodigy.

In Cuba, showing potential as an athlete is one of the quickest ways to improve your status. Soon, she no longer had to practice barefoot for worry she would wear out her only pair of shoes.

But even though she was a promising athlete, more comfortable than most citizens, she lived in a small, cramped house with 13 others while attending Cuba’s national sports academy.

Promises of international stardom and an easier life followed, especially after she earned a spot on the national team for the 1999 World Championships. But it would come at a cost.

“They train you very hard. It’s very intense,” she said of her Cuban coaches. “They invest in you but want total control. You don’t have many choices.”

One choice she was asked to make was very close to her heart. Cuban authorities demanded she give up her U.S. citizenship as a condition of competing in the Sydney Olympics. When she refused, she was expelled from the sports academy within months of her graduation.

“I wasn’t going to give up my citizenship; my mother risked her life to get it,” Perez said.

It took five anxious months to convince the U.S. consulate in Cuba to help her get a passport.

Three years ago, knowing only a few words of English and packing an unpaid bill of $2,500 from the State Department for her flight, she arrived at Teresita House, a foster home in Tucson.

For a while, she said, “I had to forget about being a champion and going to the Olympics; part of me felt that dream was over. I had to be realistic and get a job and support myself.

“But I had faith that if I worked hard I’d make it. That’s the difference between Cuba and the U.S. [Here,] no matter how poor you are or where you come from you can make a better life for yourself.”

There were more challenges, but Perez got a break. When the foster home closed and she was about to be homeless, Cruz Olivarria, a social worker, took her in. So Perez found a job as a waitress and started adjusting to life in a new country.

One day, she fell asleep on a bus and woke up on the other side of town. Drawn into a conversation by her Spanish-speaking driver, she learned he knew the sprints coach at the local community college on that route.

“You look like you’re an athlete,” the driver told her. “You should go try out.”

That was the nudge she needed.

Pima Community College jumping coach John Radspinner’s jaw dropped when Perez, though not in top competitive shape, quickly established the school triple jump record, surpassing the old standard by more than three feet.

Perez has gone on to win two junior college national titles and a U.S. outdoor championship.

“She has an incredible drive and belief in her abilities,” Radspinner said. “Her work ethic is amazing. Everything she has, she’s earned, even the simple things that most of us take for granted.”

Others have monitored her progress. Last weekend, she took an official visit to USC. She has two years of eligibility and is eager to earn a university degree.

Although she has had to work longer to complete enough credits to transfer because her first classes at Pima were for introductory English, she has learned enough of the language to help Radspinner as an assistant.

“I’m not shy,” she said in Spanish. “Sometimes I’m going to mess up some words, but most people understand what I’m trying to say.”

A group of 1,500 Arizona high school students seemed to understand when she gave a motivational speech.

“I told them to believe in themselves, stay positive and to go after their dreams,” she said. “Yes, my parents aren’t with me and I could feel sorry for myself, but I always remain positive.

“I tell myself, what do I want? How can I get it? And then just do it.”

Perez has been embraced in Tucson. She has found two “mothers” -- Olivarria and Carmen Bermudez, who runs the investment company where Perez works. Local groups have sponsored trips to international meets in China, Canada, England and Spain.

While competing in Canada, she ran into some people she knew -- her former Cuban coaches.

“They were very surprised to see me,” she said. “When I left, I told them I was still going to become an Olympic champion. They didn’t believe me. But I am going to prove them wrong.”

She would seem to have a good chance of competing in the Olympics next year in Athens because the U.S. is far behind the rest of the world in her event. At Sydney, the U.S. women failed to medal in the triple jump.

At the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field championships in June, Perez’s winning jump was more than a foot better than the runner-up.

Her personal best is 46 feet 7 1/4 inches. Her goal is to break Sheila Hudson’s American record of 47-3 1/2.

The record would be nice.

But the American part of that record is what would make it really special.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

L.A. Invitational

*--* * Ticket Info: (213) 748-6131 * Where: Sports Arena * When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (field events at USC, 9 a.m.) * Notable participants: Bernard Lagat (1500 meters); Jon Drummond and Darrell Rideaux (55-meter dash); Marcell Allmond (55-meter hurdles); Angela Williams (55-meter dash); Miesha McKelvy (50-meter hurdles). The high school part of the meet will feature USC-bound running back Reggie Bush of La Mesa Helix in the sprints and Billie Jo Grant of Arroyo Grande, the defending state champion in the girls’ discus

*--*