Motivation Quote by Alberto Juantorena

A shrug disguised as a manifesto, Juantorena's line cuts against the romantic idea that grit alone can remake the body. "We are just not made up" is doing a lot of work: it sounds casual, almost resigned, but it smuggles in a hard claim about physiology, talent pipelines, and national sporting identity. Coming from an athlete who famously won both the 400 and 800 at the 1976 Olympics, it also carries a sly authority. He's not dismissing middle distance because he couldn't do it; he's invoking the exception to underline the rule.

The intent is boundary-setting. Middle distance is the sport's uncomfortable in-between: too fast for the pure endurance model, too aerobic for the pure sprinter. By framing the issue as construction - how "we" are made - Juantorena shifts the conversation from effort to fit. The subtext is political in the way sports talk often is: nations and programs specialize, scouts select for certain bodies, coaches reinforce what they know, and soon the "natural" limits look like destiny. "We" could mean Cubans, Black Caribbean athletes, sprinters, or simply the athlete class shaped by 400m culture.

It's also a quiet critique of imported expectations. If administrators want medals, they chase events that match available traits and training infrastructure. The line reads like a warning against forcing athletes into prestige categories that flatter outsiders' narratives. Behind the modest wording is a pragmatic, slightly defiant statement: you can want a middle-distance tradition, but you can't decree one into existence without changing the whole ecosystem that manufactures runners.