En este episodio de El Corre y Corre nos sentamos con dos leyendas vivientes del fondismo puertorriqueño: Héctor “Papo” Díaz y Jaime Vélez. Con décadas de historia, gloria y sacrificio sobre sus piernas, nos comparten sus inicios, los momentos que marcaron su trayectoria, cómo evolucionó el atletismo a lo largo de los años, y el legado que aún inspiran en las nuevas generaciones de corredores.
Desde anécdotas inolvidables hasta reflexiones sobre la disciplina y el amor por el deporte, este episodio es un viaje por la historia del fondismo boricua contado por quienes la escribieron con cada zancada.
¡Dale play y corre con nosotros esta historia!
Greetings family, welcome to another
chapter of El Corre y Corre. Remember why your favorite sports platform Puerto
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International athletics and above all national athletics that fills us with
great pride and satisfaction in receiving great legends that have paved the way
path for many young people like me and others who have continued to rise know
who were the authors of opening us the way, right? And fill us with
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Puerto Rico, bringing you the wide variety of national athletics and
international. And today I want that we ourselves here in the studio,
as soon as I finish presenting these great legends that have created a lot
history for our country, let us have a loud applause. In my corner
finds Dr. Ricardo Mendoza Cañuel and we have before you Hector
Papodí and Jaime Vela. So it comes that They sit down to open the door, accompanying us
there too. Thanks for being with us this morning. Thank you
for truth for getting up early and being together me in this little while. So I’m papo
day. How are you feeling? Thanks for the opportunity that you give me to be able to do this
express myself here today, that people who do not know us or know about us
trajectory, but it has been forgotten a little bit, so they can enjoy this
interview of all the anecdotes and all the things we did to be able to
get to where we got to. Jaime Vélez, for his part, how is it
finds? We are doing very well, thank God.
and thank you for this opportunity. The least What I expected was to see myself
receive an interview, but nothing, we are the best disposition and attitude
for this. Ricardo Mendoza from the house, how are you?
All good. Well Jesus, it is an honor to have you here.
Hector Papo Diaz and Aime Velez Rosado. This on this night that we have we have to
This interview that we are going to enjoy a lot of many anecdotes of the
main story of the brands main of these two illustrious
Puerto Ricans. We’re going to have a great time. and we will continue.
Well, I’m going to start with Jaime Vélez Quick. I know a lot of people know your
great background, but for many young people who are also fans of this
program want to know a little more. Well, this gentleman simply broke
that famous 14-minute barrier and He was the first Puerto Rican to perform
that feat playing 13 minutes in the 5,000 m. So Ricardo, before
elaborate on all this, I want you have, right? The word and
let us remember above all with Jaime Vélez that great feat and that moment
historic for our country. Yes, Jaime Vélez was the first
Puerto Rican, as you say, eh, from run less than 14 minutes in 5,000 m.
It also seems to me that at 10,000 m the first to go under 30 minutes in Puerto
Rico and they were both in Mayagües. Uh, yeah I don’t remember and among many feats, those
two distinguish, apart from their participation in Medellín,
Central Americans 1978, eh very emotional participation in the
Pan American Games 1979. We have a history here, eh, many anecdotes were also
my coworker at the University of Puerto Rico at Calé and was
Professor also there in Science of Sport, his specialty. So he is a
honor to have MBL here. Jaime, well, So let’s talk about these then
beginnings. There are many other sports, But why is there athletics?
to sweat like a pig? Well, I arrived in Ballamón when I was 7 years old.
for second grade and Bayamón is basketball and I lived near how
300 meters from the Pepin Cestero court. And what? had to be done? basketball for the
morning, afternoon and evening summer. That was all summer and in
causes. Cowboy town,
cowboy town. So I kept playing basketball, but there came a time when eh
My first race at a field day between 5 grade, because there was no one
elementary school that coexists with us They gave seventh grade so that the parents
take care of ourselves. Hey, they gave a fil. I ran 100m.
and I jumped long too. So, I didn’t start it.
running 10 miles or anything like that things, but I think it was a good one
good process, eh, because one goes on studying,
evaluating and all these things. But of there it is in high school,
TRUE?, When I understood that I could run something
moreover, it was a field day, as it is called called it is called, eh of the four
middle schools in Bayamón and the longest distance was 600 m
and I ran 600m and I won it and I beat a boy who supposedly owed me
give by the esteó and Paquito is called, and from there I
I was leaving for the Agustín Stal school, who had as a teacher of education
Physics, the late Juan Ramón Lubriel, a beautiful person who knows volleyball,
basketball, because he played basketball with Bayamón
and I had his knowledge because he helped me to me to be my best brand at that moment
eh first year of high school. I scored 203 in the 800m on the track
Viscarrondo that he is no longer in Carolina and that served to motivate me to
I’m going to keep running at least 800 my high school I took 800
400 1500 good on fourth grade field day year I took 800 400 and 200 and all three of them
I won a field literally runs a field
from the court of the court from the court And they quickly used it to
jumping field event. Exactly. As usual.
Yes, yes, it is normal. It is normal. Hector Papo Díaz, quick with you,
just like Jave. And I do this ask why it is that it is regularly
custom, right? in our country, eh, fast, baseball, basketball, before
run, which is literally what one one is born, one crawls, walks and then runs,
but then people seem to ignore that path.
Before athletics, did you do anything else? sport and how you get to it
athletics? Eh, I quickly get to the sport that quickly
I started practicing athletics. I I didn’t play any other sport. Uh,
When I was 8 years old, my dad took me to the park. baseball, where the team plays
baseball of the Villal coliseum. There I would start spinning, I would do 10, 12, 15
turns and takes me for the first time to a 8 km race in Bajanquita when the
children at that time did not take marathons. I still remember very well that
When I arrived, they told my dad, “That kid is not going to reach the finish line.” And
I took her, I took her the 8 km. From there on forward, Orocobi, Guayanilla, eh 8 9
10s competed and as for that At that time there was not a child who could take
cashier, because every time she arrived she was one feeling. I remember a very anecdote
good that he was Cuamo’s barber eh, who was almost 60, 70 years old and
I took the cashier from Cuamo and she was very famous. So, not me at 9 years old
we face in Guayanilla. We face a race in Guayanilla
of 13 km. It came out from the public square of Peñuela
to the public square of Guayanilla through the old cashier. And then
we were fighting He and I until the last kilometer
Well, I was able to win it and that was a event and always waited,
right? the baby, the baby who will arrive And I remember that in 1969
My dad turned on the TV for me. watch the intercollegiate match, he explained to me
what was fair and the first thing I saw It was the Colombian Joaquín Velázquez
winning all three races, 10,000, 5,000, 3,000 m steeplechase.
I quickly fell in love with that uniform and said, “I’m going to be Inter, I’m going to be a tiger
just like him.” Over time he house, that is, he has a girlfriend, he gets married in
Villalba. So, what was Joaquín like? Velázquez, me with a friend of mine, when
he was going to visit the girlfriend, we We climbed a tree at school
Mayón stops us from that tree see him talking to his girlfriend,
This is why I bring this for you that the young people who are with me today when
see us, hear me, know that you already you are an idol and many times you don’t
you realize that that boy, that girl, you is observing what you are
doing and with the good that comes later house, goes to Villalba, becomes
my high school coach and this one and from there I passed into the hands of
Jaime Vélez who is like a father when I arrived at Interamerican University.
Ricardo Mendoza, a little bit of this, the Pabodia, well loved, well loved.
Yes, Hector, this one, well loved in all the Puerto Rican sports population
already at an international level. Uh, apart from that he was a very good competitor
brave eh of your eh I understand that comparatively in its dimensions
corporals could say that it is the long-distance runner
with a stride length of quite a stride
wide, this and 53, but papo’s stride
was eh was not 53 heart
a competitor that everyone knows with all his feat, which we will enter into
detail later and that has passed to the brother of Jaime Vélez, who came,
It seems to me at that time, I don’t know if He had finished his studies in
Indiana or something like that, but I know that fell into very good hands and Papo began
to emerge in a way impressive, shocking.
Jaime, I want to play with you that great feat. You are historic for our
country. They make them the first Puerto Rican to play 13 minutes that
At that time they were, indeed, complicated, That is, there were different barriers that
human being and in Mayagah they are complicated, so
Tell me about how your preparation, especially that big heart
competitive by becoming historically a priceless piece
for our country. Let’s talk, let’s transport us to that moment in 13
minutes. I was really going to run this one and I understand that Robertito Velázquez that
He was president of the Federation of Athletics at one point this was
with the middle Pon and on the way I, Guys, I’m tired. This with those
those days when you wake up and don’t feel wants to do nothing, not even run, much less
compete. I say to myself, look, sometimes when one feels more tired,
You better run, okay? And so it was. I can help you. say that at that moment I was
even in everything that I got here, I I trained on my own. I mean,
I can’t tell you that I had such coach because it did not exist and some
coaches would say, “One one came to me I mean, I won’t tell you this name, but
that you do running.” Once I was Saturday saw me running through the uh the
Piñeiro and he says to me, “And what and what you you were doing the other day, right? When
We arrived at the university, look, no You can run down the street because it’s going to happen to you.
slow down this and that. I don’t I listened to him because the lack of the lack
of wisdom and knowledge because no can be discussed.
This eh and I continued and I continued this eh or doing my practice based on the
experience that I had been in Indiana. Um, I had the blessing.
to have a meet a person who was
Olympic coach at the Olympic Games From 76, his name was Samel, like Saint
Bell, then, and Sanel, this is extra, eh, Freddy Vargas
went to Italy, to a congress of athletics,
eh, and he met Sanel and talked to him, first Sanel asked him about me and
He told her yes, that he knew me. And Then Freddy when we saw each other here
He said, “Oh, look at me, that person was extremely good.” Well, it was
extremely good, helpful. I I was in Indiana like they did
I don’t remember the name now, I don’t I could participate, I was a student
graduated, but Sam treated me like I was was a scholarship student of the
university. I traveled with him team and if he could run like Natash,
What do you call this guest? Uh, I participated in this several times and yes I had
once I had a problem with the doctor, he told me, “Go away, this doctor knew everything
world in the town of Bloomington. Uh, He was a football guy like
coach, that is, this one had to go to the his office to see all the
plaques he had of all his achievements this with the track and field team at the
university. But nothing, this eh I practiced on my own. I know that eh
Robertito told me, “No, ha, I know that when I did 1359, I think that
Robertito forgot what he had told me. saying.”
Yes, look. Of course,
My mom said with the test a button it just is.
That’s right. Yes, yes it is. That’s right, That’s right. Tell me about that.
emotion. Of course, on your part, right? Indescribable, but we
demonstrate and the public remembers that time, that is, because one does not see what
outside is impressive, but you live what you are the author, the protagonist of
that moment, it has to be something infallible. That is, when you pass the
mint or that same day before running, Explain yourself briefly, right?
sometimes you don’t feel like it sometimes run, right? Like what happens to
anyone to anyone, to any runner. When you are
seconds minutes before giving the exit, you thought, I already had you in
your mind records that you know that well You know, there are days when you feel like today is
That’s right, nobody can knock me down today. here. Did you feel that way at that moment?
second before the race starts? No, no, not really. I mean, at least.
that I imagined that that time was coming, but I was prepared.
This, my training if any person based on what you do
last month, you are ready to do that. This and rather I think it was the
long trip from Ríopiedra to A.A. Mayagués, this one, and one gets tired
and if you don’t sleep well this this and that, Well, but nothing, I gave my best.
me based on it and then I listened the time of each lap, eh, and that
He told me if I was doing badly or worse. slow. I mean, I didn’t do any laps.
of 110 at that cashier. My change was fluctuated between the first I think it was
65 to 68 minutes. Second,
second, second, second. Correct. And I was singing this, or
well, I know if they told me two, three, and me and me and eh and the other the other well you
You know if it was 67 because I knew it was 8 11 31 and so it went. 426. I remember that I
I passed the first mile in 426, is
eh and I think it was 426 around there, a a little less and the other 426, that is, already
had 2 miles that were on the way towards that achievement
and to tell you that when the question That’s where it comes from because there are times when one
feels bad, but when you warm up the feeling changes, it obviously rises
the body temperature, makes certain exercise and a certain degree of ease
and possibly one feels better, but even more so one that is the way of me
describe a perception of effort when you feel very good. I said
that when one is well prepared, one He grabbed ponco with his legs, they moved
alone and one enjoyed it. Also There is that feeling, that flow of state
rewarding where the athlete knows he is going well and more was the time that had to be
sing the laps. Then time the door is now a gar, now you go
here On the floor they point it out to you before you even notice it.
feeling good about that eh sing the lap time and an expert
expertise of knowing eh eh to cover the time that he carries and how much he himself already knows
mind, he himself projects the end. I I imagine the excitement and how hard he ran.
I wasn’t there, but I quickly found out. Hey, Jaime Vélez went down from 14 minutes in
Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico it is not the same and is spelled the same.
Yes, I tell you, forgive me, Papo, yes you I say that I understand that Osiris, that
Papo remembers him who was the one student manager from when I was a coach
There in San Germán, he wrote down all my notes. the times throughout the race that was going on
with me. Even the 10,000m race that I
I made there has all the times, all fractionals
partial. Look, look
That’s that mark that Jaime made for me. owes me. He owes it to me to get below 14.
There there. I took that career, I had 17 years old and missing him 180 m, I
They start shouting, “Get out of the box one, jump out of the carajil one so that Jaime
I’ll go through the carajil and I’ll get out to the cajil two.” And I always tell him, yes
I’m not leaving, because if the improvement doesn’t It failed me was 13599.
I say, if I don’t leave and you do you have to open it a little, it was 14
plus, that is, they owe the brand to me. Great, great moment, papo. From your
beginnings everyone has told me that You, since you were a little kid, had to
have, had to be done, no matter what, there was that Guayara with you a talent
essential. And I ask you,
sometimes one can feel intimidated that, wait, I’m a kid, 15, 16
years, groping people of 20 and peak, 30-something years old at some point
given when you were beginning to beginning of facing cream with the
that you faced in those times also that you also recognize great
figures of Puerto Rican athletics. Did you ever feel fear at some point?
against experience or you were a bred rooster, you messed with
everything, what was it like? What were those like beginnings of daddies? What happens is that
the upbringing I was in home,
I understand that what made me be, As they say, a bred rooster is a brave man.
And there is an anecdote, eh, that in Villalba There is a place where you leave the town
and arrived there at the Mogote neighborhood and that is it rising as if it were almost 10
km going up right there
and exactly as if it were the slope of the juice. So, at my house
We are six children, there are three brunettes and two and three very white ones. So, my
brother who said, my dad took us, I I was like 9 years old and the eight to raise him
that slope, but as he seemed to attack epileptic, because he rented a box,
Someone gave him pon, daddy left, arrived He arrived at the sector and waited for us there.
comes to a box and says to my dad, “The black is good, but the white one
She’s in a ditch crying. Go away. “Look,” he said. He said to my brother,
“You’re not going to do the lyrics. The brave one is papo. He’s the one who stays.”
And yes, you know? No, I never felt intimidation, no. I, I arrived and the
athletes I ran with who were my age They were always taller than I was.
extremely short yy older. And then the [ __ ] from
the 8 years races that are not, that is, not It was not the best for an 8 year old boy
years, but before that nothing was known. My Dad was a person who had
reached the second year of high school because he had to go to the United States
United to send this money for your house. They were extremely poor people. Uh,
Well, what he knew was this. It was what I did. The luck I had
It was that I didn’t go on the track or anything. give repetitions. What I did was
[ __ ] long, [ __ ] long. And when you You now look at the base of the Africans,
They run 10 km to their schools, return at their own pace. I then
That’s what I did. I started to enter a track already when I was in
high school with the one I said, with Joaquín Velázquez and it wasn’t it wasn’t
all the time, it was when it was already approaching F day two months before and
out there no track until arrived at the Interamerican University,
which is a very interesting fact because Jaime was a runner, he beat us and
In addition to training, there was train with him, you had to run with him
him. And I remember when I arrived that first My year, well, wow, Jaime Vélez,
maximum. I had seen that he had brought out very good athletes and I, or
well, I said, I, I have to get there. and It quickly took us to what I call the
military, to [ __ ] an anthill fal to Saan and it was for now not because now the
cement that was a good grass big
and of the times that I have suffered the most in my life was that day, but I didn’t let go,
I didn’t let go and Jaime had the habit that he didn’t tell us in the rulings how much it was
that to [ __ ] eh we started he did this
and one behind And until he fell,
I trotted for a moment, did this and arrived a moment when the mind said, “When
you are tired, wow, where is it going knock down? Where is it going to knock down? But
applause, please. Yes, yes, but but no, I remember that
I I didn’t let go of Jaime and a friend of his and friend of mine who has already died,
this, Andrés Cruz, this one, who was with us. To the other
One day he said to me, “Come here, what happened?” There he told me that you impressed him, that
You caught on very well, and that for me was the the biggest. This,
But I do have many anecdotes with Jaime. The first year, I had to run.
Cross country with Gabriel Girardo. Uh, Thank God I earned it. What a tremendous being.
human, Colombian, practically invincible. When we face each other in
the 10,000 m intercollegiate, Sometimes we went to Mayagua school to
train because the Intel track was on land and Jaime took us and me
I agree that it was a very hard job, a 400, an 800, a 100, a mile, a 2000
m, there everyone stopped in the middle 2,000 m is taking time and I look
so for those who are alone. Then I trot and he says to me, “Now a 400m, but it’s with
everything I have.” I remember that says 59 something. I reach the goal, I
I hit the ground. There at the finish, I don’t know If Jaime remembers and Ricardo, there was a
a feather and there was like a little piece of cement and they filled it with water and you
you stuck your head in there. Then I I I stuck my head in there and, oh God,
Thank God I finished because he told me that to everything I gave
Seriously. It says, “Get up, you’re missing 4 200 m for 28.” And I said, “I don’t
I can.” Then I told him so. several times, but I don’t remember him.
Then he said to me, “Calm down, calm down, Relax. You have a silver medal.
safe in the fair. If you want gold, go and finished.” Then I went,
I went, I finished, I finished. I remember very well the discus throwers weigh, me
They raised me up, they called me that. Then I arrive and I don’t enter the cafeteria, I left
for the pieces with all the clothes, shoes, I didn’t take it off. I all
So dirty I threw myself onto the bed and I remember that in the dryness like that of the night and I,
Who is it? And I’m Jaime, open up. And when I opened it, I remember how they told me now
that you haven’t eaten and I, Yacho, I don’t I can. I went and bathed, I bathed. It was a
plate of ajul and two chops that I because he cooked for me, I mean, he had his
apartment cooked and it has to be cooked eat. And the next day, at 5 o’clock in the
morning, I don’t know if you remember, I was It was raining, no one got up and he arrived,
We’re going for a run and I, it’s raining, the athlete trains, rain or shine or he is
I paid. And then a very very structure good with him and that was what thanks to
God brought me to where I got to. strict, eh whenever there was a
competition, no matter the position I will arrive, eh whenever I
They interviewed me, they always asked me, What’s the next competition? And me?
No, that’s for my coach to decide, eh, when he says where I’m going to [ __ ] And
we had many, many encounters, many, many strong races. There were
one in Villalba because in that race eh the athletes who were going to go were chosen
for Brazil, which was the Sanibileta best race in the world. And then we
We face Jaime, Chelía, Nesto, Moreno and I, who for my person
Eduardo Vera, Eduardo Vera,
It was the fastest race in Puerto Rico.
It was run faster in Puerto Rico, in Carajetera was 8900 m at night and we
we face and missing in my town Vera Villar and missing, I think 800 m.
Chelía gave a very hard but good lunge. hard. Jaime continued with him. I tried to
continue with Moreno, but the legs No, they didn’t answer me. I arrived
Third, that was like in December and we face each other in Bermuda,
10km International. Won by George Smith, who had arrived from England,
had come second in New York, spectacular catcher of 10,000 m. And
I said, “Well, Chelía and Jaime they won in my backyard. Today I have to run.
They owe me. Yes, they owe me. They owe me.
And I was 19 years old and Jaime is a witness. I came seventh in
international level and I think I was the first
Puerto Rican in running less, I think 30 minutes. 29:49 on the road.
In carajetera. So there this one is me I was able to beat Jaime and Chilía who
They had won, but then this they came to the adjustment
intercollegiate, we face each other because So Jaime wasn’t working.
At Inter, he had one year left competition, provico went, there we are
we face. Okay. And I was already training,
but when we went to [ __ ] the 10,000 very Well done to him, it happened to me like the first time
It’s like in about five and I give them to you I sent behind already about a mile I did
pup, then the race ended, no We talked. The next day I went 5,000 m,
I came second and then I spoke with Jaime calmly about the strategy and
He told me, “Look, I was the first one I had a good time quickly because as I know
that you were brave, you were going to leave behind me and I had to go
taking the air out of you from the start. You served very quickly. And that’s when he won
10,000, 5,000, 1500, broke the record in 10,000, broke the record by 5,000 and
that was my second year and it didn’t last long because after a year I broke it
the brand. Let’s take it easy, let’s go with But there is an anecdote there because also
They met at the Través Salar field in 1980 which was the Ponce golf course
that fits too and let me tell you that I had the honor of meeting them
because although they dominated, I arrived seventh in that 10,000 and was in the
field again in 1980 and but I saw him face them and be able to
compete and watch them compete eh and an essence of competition and about
all be a good gentleman, eh this is the one mutual respect that always allows
in the athletes of that time and still too.
I was saying, excuse me, I was saying that uh the events as such, which Papo rightly says
that eh the 10,000 m in that in that moment I said it was the race
that no, I didn’t like it, I didn’t like it I would do 25 laps and they would tell me, “You
23, 24 missing that was like a shot in the arm heart.” And I said, “Whoever loves me
To win against me, you have to win against me from the shot.” And it was strategy. I said,
“I’m going to pass the first one.” That is, I left to run and I had to win and like me
I doubted that any of them more than could eh hit was papo for his
condition and his gallantry, the others do not They were like him because he didn’t know them,
right? But as it passed 4:36, the first mile I was already there, she
were, everyone was out of career. and I was going to tell you this
Hey, at that cashier that Papo mentions. It’s a qualifier for Brazil, right?
I ran in Brazil eh that was in 79,
I understand. Eh, I ran 2451 in 8 in 8.9
9 km and the calculations that I made based on the
time of 2451, I had to be doing 2840 in
10,000 m and that Chelia had gone, that all
those who went to aa participated in Brazil knew it wasn’t a race
easy. At one point a section was taken that
you didn’t even see the road, I mean, yes there was a hole you had, that is,
I would teach one and then there would be one hill that they called the hill of the
consolation, consoled they said, Right? What’s it called in Portuguese?
And on that slope 800 m, that is, it was not a wall, but a long slope of 800 m
a speed that one is not here and I am I managed to do that time and then I
I started doing the calculations and my friend who He was our studio manager there
In San Germán it was said like this, Jaime, you you caught 28 or something in 10,000 ma that
situation had to [ __ ] quickly There it was
Fernando Mamede, who was a runner 1417 at that time.
13, sorry, 1317. Francofaba, that is, there was elite at the level,
had to run, had to run, then there was a given moment to last
I didn’t see the corridors because it was so dark, there were no lights.
Wow. But it was a very nice experience.
Well, next returning to the topic of the fair that Jaimes had already finished
his years of competition with Papo. Already ends next year, eh that was
1983, no 82, 82, Hey Jaime starts running hard,
also trying tactically to escape as much as possible from his colleague
team, Nestor Moreno. Mm. And he dominates that 10,000 m with the record that
lasted until this year 2943, which was overcome eh and with the support of the
same Hector Papo Diaz by Hector Pagan from Barranquita, the captain. Hey, Papo, in
that day you knew you had to practically,
as if we say, flee, flee,
squeeze, make a long pull. Mira,
What was the tactic that day? Look, eh, Let me tell you a little bit beforehand. As soon as
José Eles won the 10,000m race that Luis Barbosa had defeated him in every way
in all prior to all competitions, Hey, they’re taking me to see that 10,000 m.
Chelia is my idol and still is my idol and Chelía had to leave the eighth
cajil at the exit. When when I I’m preparing for that 10,000m,
I ask my dad, my mom, my girlfriend, who was my wife, to my
Friends, I want you to be Be honest with me. What do you think?
Am I going to arrive? He told me, eh, is it going to Pedro Elías wins, Néstor Moreno second
and you fighting the third and fourth position with Gabri Giraldo.
And I already three months before said, “I’m going to win,
I’m going to break the record and I’m going to go down 30.”
And they told me, “No, we want that you win.” And I was like, “No, you don’t know that
when you enter the track, the one I’m going to a [ __ ] it’s me, it’s not you. And I’m going
to win.” And I prepared, I prepared and I competed four races before with Pedro
Elias and with Néor and they won me. And Néor is my friend, my brother, a friendship
incredible. In the joke, Nestor always was running behind me and in the last 300
It would happen to me and leave me stuck. Then when I reached the goal, in
It’s true that one always arrives and bends a little bit, the knee, he made me,
“Hey, how did that sprint feel?” And me and me too is fine, um, me
you killed. What? Well, what’s up? I reached that 10,000 m that year of the competition
and they put me, I think it was in the second cajil, that’s why I brought the anecdote of
Chelía and I approach in peace Rest and God bless him
Dani Soto that was him. And I say, “Can I talk to you?”
says, “It’s not supposed to, but yes, Tell me. Can you put me in the
cajil 8 to go out?” No, it’s my turn there. I went and I don’t know when he said, “Hey, come on
here.” And I go there. Why do you you me? Do you want to get out of there? I mean, because the
My idol is Chelía and when she won against Barbosa, he came out of lane 8 and I
I want to get out of there and looked at me, smiled and he says, “I could have had eight carajils come out.”
Very good, very good. Yes, to go out. Then I remember that
Chelía since they gave the quick shot He came out in front and gave to Lones.
So I said, I’m going to [ __ ] like this. But what happens? Before that was the
only time in my life and I talked about it with the psychologist from the Inter-American University, with
Enit, hey, when I came in, I was calm down and I’m already at the exit and I
I got nervous and my arms and hands they started to shake me
and she says to me, “Or that was an attack panic, an anxiety attack.” And what
It happened, daddy, I, I gave it to him, look, in my I was like, “But if you can be
well at home eating garlic with abichuela, watching television, what are you
have you gotten in here? But I say again, my dad Jaime and all
people that I was brave and I started to breathe deeply, calmly until
that I calmed down. I said, “What I I need them to give the shot because
after that, but it’s the only time that It happened to me and they shot me, I went out
forehead, I passed by at 1457 and 5,000 and right there Nestor
Moreno passed me, but hard, hard, hard.” And at kilometer 7 I got a pain
in the horrible, horrible, horrible glass and I looked back, but when I go to
looking for the third place I said, “No, no, don’t do that. don’t do that because that’s already
is to give up for second place. And then I started, my God, my God,
take away this pain, take away this pain. But what’s going on? What am I?
we were training for 2,000m repetitions and I had already planned that missing
2,000 m I was going to throw everything I had at him. that I had. But in the race, I didn’t
I remembered that, but I do it every day I thought about it, I thought about it and when they were missing
50m to go with five laps to go, the 2,000 m without thinking, which is the
mind, I automatically opened up, I passed by, and we were fucking like one
11, I threw that lap in 16. The other back as it didn’t matter much, I threw it to him
in 17. There he gave a little and I said, “I got you.” Now I was dead.
I have you too. When they give the when They ring the bell for the last lap, I
I think I was older than him, I don’t know, 15 or 20 met yy a little worried that I
went to [ __ ] because he was fast, but I couldn’t [ __ ] The thing is that
When we arrived, very tired, Nesto He bends over and I say, “And those last ones
five laps how you how you do now? Neo looks at me and said, “You killed me.”
And the next day we are warming up 5000, 5000
for the 5000 which was at 3:30 in the afternoon.
And I say, “Néor, my hands hurt a lot. pantojillas, how do you feel?” And I
I know that the answer he gave me was not to impress, he gave me papo, the body
What he asks me is [ __ ] And I’m like, “But, How will it be if we kill each other?
yesterday?” And so it was. I took all the race and with 600m left he passed me by
side, He shot a 59 last lap. The thing is that
of 600 that he gave me on arrival he took 9 seconds.
Wow. Right off the bat. And he did 1425
and as I was arriving, Gabriel Girardo passed me. 1434 something and I’m 1434 too.
And your sister put you in the man. This one, look, he didn’t tell me anything there.
Nothing. He didn’t say anything to me there. He didn’t say anything to me there. He said nothing. But it was something very good.
exciting. And I want to get something out. The first year that I win, eh, well there is the
fan of Villamisto Cobal and Papo Papo papo papo after after I g
There is a donkey with 3000 obstacles stuck after small lane, about 30 m away
the arrival. Then I sat there and everyone greeted me and hugged me and
Jaime comes walking, he stays about 5 meters, I do remember. And I say, I
I think, he’s going to come and say hello to me and says, “Hey, get out of there because that will
affects the Hstre. Tomorrow it has 5000 m for me to enjoy.” And then he says to me,
“You’re going to run at 110 per lap and when you get to the fourth to the fifth
you’re going to give a ride for one or two Gabriel Girardo.” Ah, very well. When
I come in and I see that Cistoscobal full Me, “Wow, impressive. I made Je la
first round you have it in a two. When I arrived at the fourth lap for the
fifth, which was the change, there was nothing. So, the final subtraction
Gabriel Girardo beat me. Jaime, sorry, It is not continued, it will be said
that Gabriel stayed living in Puerto Rico, live here in the area
metropolitan, tremendous human being, I send this many greetings and I appreciate it
a lot and he was an excellent athlete who had a race with Jaime, Carlos Bay, me and him
that was a classic, I think that the biggest race that has ever been given in 15
m in Puerto Rico in quality. And how was it? That race? Spectacular,
Jaime, having Papo here now, I know that they have talked about it many times, but
so that the public, right?, also can be a witness to these
words, what do you greatly recognize in the figure of Estor Papo Díaz?
This, I can’t talk about the athletes. from now on. I can tell you that Papo
had impeccable discipline and was competitive. He looked like me in
part to me. I said that the one who I wanted to win when I was racing
I had to kill myself. Okay.
This, and one goes out to win. The athlete who Don’t go out to win, because you shouldn’t compete.
You must try another event, because one is not going to walk in a race because you
and more so in a career at the level intercollegiate that there are two 10, 8, 10,000
or 20,000 people and all the people who He sees on television and will say what happened to him.
to that boy. Papo, for your part, what do you highlight?
greatly from Jaime Vélez? I He was always very communicative,
eh, I worked more with psychology with
the athlete, strict but unable. But above all Jaime was the coach
that I do it with my athletes, that we We sat and talked and he talked and
He talked about life, about all the topics, political, religious, artistic, of
everything. I mean, sitting down and talking with Jaime, sometimes we don’t even talk much about
athletics and that base with the base that I had it with my parents, right? eh
It made me a better man and then I had the Luckily the athletic director was from
from Villalva Raú Rodríguez, a man Seriously, a man just like Jaime with
some values, some principles impeccable, because Jaime is very challenging,
well or rather and Jaime has something good and It is good and bad because what he
a person has to tell you face to face Jaime is going to tell him no, it doesn’t go with
story. And that training that I had in the university with him and in life and
we always keep talking, we communicate,
I understand that it made me a better person. human and I’m s, he knows it, super
grateful. Always wherever I go, this is my second father, eh,
I always feel very proud of him. Even
when I was competing against Jaime and Jaime told me I was training, there were people who came up and
He said to me, “But why do you train?” with James V? He’s not going to train you for
beat you.” And I said, “No, no, no. Ael is blameless. Avel is a man of
the value and principle and he will go to me train as it should be.” And we had eh eh
competition. He beat me, I beat him, I got to where I got to thanks to
he, this one, and we still communicate and we talked about everything about the
country’s problems. I’ll give you one anecdote, this, that an athlete of a
people of this country told me, “Hey, When we got here what they said was that
you train those who train them athletes
for you to earn it and they don’t know me because I don’t establish myself
Dad trained so that if he beat me, Well, I felt happy, he won me over.”
But that group of athletes, many They could have done much better
times, one at the local level, at the level international, but one has
the training of a person stepped is like a structure.
The second step, okay, no way.
The second, that is, the floor, the zapata
It has more rod than the 10th floor. Ah, I I love it, I love it, Ricardo. We’re going to
to culminate this great interview and we have remembered so many great anecdotes
with these companions. What more can you add?
Well, look, that analogy that the Professor Jaime Vélez Rosado, always the
I’ve been doing it in training sports, because we see a lot of them now
videos of training sessions and methods and means of training
people who first laid the blocks to make them plastered.
Mm. First they made the rod, that one solid base to be able to hold something that
we see it on the networks or we see it in the Books. Very important, but back to the
to the papo line, describing aa Jaime Vélez as with a firm hand, but
heart of silk, because it had chops to the
before a training session and In that sense they competed a lot
together, but there was one occasion that was very impressive
eh in a half marathon in Puerto Rico, San Blast half marathon in 1983.
uh they competed. Uh, and can I start by Jaime so that you continue with Papo
Diaz who made a 721, if not I would not I’m mistaken, that way,
something like that, something like that. And obviously that was the year of
Puerto Rican domain in the middle of San Blas Jesus.
Wow. 1733. 1733
and Papo took second place Sambra
I’ve only surpassed Bequele, eh? Bequele Deble
Weak and third position Jorge Peco González with an hour 4
43 spectacular
a detail versus the time that Papo He took over the intercollegiate meetings and
intercollegiate boards at the moment
we because I ran They were already running, we could run two of the three events in
less than 24 in 24 hours, let’s say, Now you run a race on Thursday,
You run another race on Friday and run the 15m, the last race on the track
before the penultimate one before the relief. Or sea, and you can drink water, they give you one
wipe, they give you a sponge. At the time that Papo ran and I did it
I preceded, if I took a small glass or a sponge they disqualified me.
Brutal The changes, right? Evolution
like everything evolved. So before culminate, right? I want each
one gives a message especially to that one youth, those young people, right?, who
They are entering athletics, to a sport that requires so much sacrifice and
from so much discipline. I start with Jaime and then this is stop. What do you
You can tell all those young people that They believe in that dream also latent as
in? Well, you are a very sport sacrificed and first of all you have
to have faith and confidence in the person that is training you. If you are not
I totally agree with him, he is. training because he is your friend or because
friends are training with him and you are following the eh behind
them, cut it because you won’t have success. You have to look for a person in
that you have confidence and can speak, sit down with him and why he is doing it
the work to give you an idea for achieve success.
This is the papo all those young people. Eh, the life life is long if the Lord allows it
allows, right? And sometimes when these young people are in school school
higher education or university want to do so many things that deviate from the
practices when they are only 4 years you go to college and possibly
2 more years of training and then you have to do everything you want in the
life. Uh, discipline, but more than that discipline at this time my
The biggest concern is the parents. In In my time, parents would go, sit,
They watched and didn’t have any opinions. In this time I have observed the pressure
excessive attitude of parents towards athletes. It’s something it’s a it’s crazy and sometimes
They are athletes who, at the central level American, you know as a coach,
university level that they are going to reach and when that son or daughter arrives there
the fair, they believe they are going to be Olympics and the pressures and the way that
They sometimes speak to him contemptuously, because you lost with this and that. Then
That young man doesn’t get frustrated, maybe It is removed, this, it is not enjoyed
really eh what he’s doing. It is a call to the country, especially
to the family, the parents, let them their children in whatever sport
enjoy and just follow the advice that the coach is giving you
or the coach and so they will be able to get out better human beings.
Peclo. I would have loved to hear
some before telling me my words some where I papo again some
a small anecdote, simple and brief, needs that San Blaj half marathon
1983. Quickly, the Ay Bonito 15 km marathon.
In the month of November they face each other Nestor Moreno and
and Pe González. Peco was always a guy slow. I’m on the broadcast.
It was on a downhill, he beat Neto, finishes the race. I say to him, “Hey,
But here a turtle sinned. How sin is it going to go down, boy?” That
It can’t be. When Poo and I finished from climbing the hill the juice that
We started to go down, he dominated me going down and I was thinking, “Oh, I told Neto
that that that I fish in a turtle, but It doesn’t move.” It was a good race
strong, but the narration was not the best,
because when we passed kilometer 10, I’m looking at my watch, Peco is going
fighting with Pedro Elías, the second and third position and Peco passes in 2939 and
I pass in 2941. 2 seconds behind nothing. In no
moment of transmission. To me they mentioned, they mention me when
I’m reaching the slope of the Juguillo and the public didn’t know that I
I was coming close, but there was a moment given after kilometer 10 that Peo is
take off, see what is visible and fart like 100 my and I said, “Oh, this got
place.” So what I did was I looked towards
down below, I didn’t want to look at them, I looked down, I kept pulling, pulling and
when we enter the detour that is for [ __ ] for Juan Díaz and start to
go up, when I look up I had it At 25, I was like, “Wait.”
Now comes the strong part of me that is the slope.” But when I took them
exactly the slope, PO dominated me also on the slope and that made me feel
crazy because I understood that the guy who I was going up more, but we continued
struggling. This, what I can do for you To say that in November I suffered a
chronic bronchitis. I had it for two weeks and half without running and I start my
training with Jaime to assemble, but I never competed. I’m going to
assemble. I didn’t know I was in that condition. This one surprised me, didn’t it?
And unfortunately I took it was my fault mine, I made a bad decision, I
The Achilles tendon was already bothering her fair. I remained silent, I was alja, no
I could, I came third, from then on tendon until I had it operated on.
Jodilla too. I couldn’t lose to Peco and with Caesar, but this one is good, no
I can come back and ask and in 2006, do you remember that we went to
the Central American Games and I’m going with César Lán’s train?
Hey, let’s start playing dominoes, eh, perco as a couple with Johnny Rodriguez and me in
couple with Sami Lauriano. So, no They are winning, it is not, but for now
we started Sam, I don’t know how to play, I throw token, then it is the annoying PO,
is that this is like the crazy divers, like the salsa dancer who throws his fists at the
crazy, one knows not even the token that I thing is that we beat him. When he
we won Johnny and Peco start arguing And here comes the good part and Peco says,
“No, let’s sit down for the revenge.” And I say, “No, no, I don’t
I was able to [ __ ] Aja’s revenge, now you you are left with the dominoes.”
Agree remember that. So
Thank you, thank you, right? Something that do you want to add quickly?
Yes, of course. For us it is a It’s a pleasure to have Papo Díaz Jaime Vélez
here in this interview and they are beings humans, excellent human beings and
professionals in their field as an athlete and as a coach who are anchors,
They are bases, eh, that must be emulated, even surpass all the people who
is on the rise in our King of Sports Athletics.
Thank you for your great anecdotes, for his words and above all the message to
young people, right? That we have to persevere, have discipline and give it with
everything. So with this great session we We say goodbye and remember that we come with
more. Look, there comes Angelita Lin, There comes Chelra, we are trying
get it. A gamalonado is also is approaching there and what all the
world wants, you imagine a Pego González with César Mercado together
and the girls come from there too. Yes. And the girls come, many come.
interesting girls. So thanks to everyone for sharing our content and
Follow us Puerto Rico Sport, the Correcorre and Alf Puerto Rico. Many
thank you.
