Ronaldo Veitia Valdivie awarded with IJF gold plaquette

At the Grand Slam of Tokyo the famous Cuban coach Ronaldo Veitia Valdivie was presented the IJF plaquette, and the IJF gold card for his entire career and achievements by IJF General Secretary Jean-Luc Rouge, and IJF president Marius Vizer.

Ronaldo, head coach of the Cuban National team participated in his last international competition in Japan as a coach. Born in Havana in 1948, 8th dan in judo, Ronaldo Veitia graduated in sports science and has been the legendary head coach of the female national team since 1986. Under his leadership, Cuba obtained five gold, nine silver and 10 bronze Olympic medals and a total of 57 world medals in the senior category. Together with the cadet and junior categories, it is an impressive total of 308 international medals, which were won by Veitia’s athletes of 30 years of activity.

The famous coach declared: “I am happy for all the years that I have spent in the service of judo and of my country, even if today I’m a bit sad because this is the end of a fantastic adventure. I will now concentrate on my family and especially on my granddaughter. For me all those years were simply extraordinary. I gave everything to my team and to my country and my best souvenirs will for sure remain all the medals won by my athletes. Now I will take the time to relax, to enjoy life and of course I will continue to watch judo, but from the stands.“