Motivation Quote by Alberto Juantorena

A quiet flex is hiding in that plain sentence: Cuba doesn’t just celebrate winners, it deploys them. Juantorena - the rare athlete who won Olympic gold in both the 400 and 800 meters - is speaking from inside a system where sports prestige has always carried political and social utility. The intent is practical, almost managerial: champions aren’t treated as isolated stars but as instruments for building the next generation of athletes and, by extension, national pride.

The subtext pushes back against a more familiar capitalist script. In many countries, champions “promote” brands, themselves, or a lifestyle; the sport is often the backdrop for sponsorships and personal empire-building. Juantorena flips the direction of value. The individual’s fame is meant to flow back into the collective project, converting celebrity into participation, coaching authority, recruitment, and legitimacy for the sports apparatus. It’s an ethic of visibility with an assignment: you are famous, therefore you are useful.

Context matters because Cuban sport is famously state-supported and internationally symbolic. During the Cold War and after, athletic success functioned like soft-power proof-of-concept: a small, embargoed nation could still out-run and out-box wealthier rivals. So “use” is the loaded word here. It’s not necessarily sinister; it’s frank. It acknowledges that champions are made by institutions - training pipelines, scouts, doctors, coaches - and the institution expects a return.

Juantorena’s line works because it refuses sentimental hero mythology. It treats greatness as a resource that should circulate, not a trophy to sit under glass.