The Barcelona Olympic 800 metres bronze medalist suffered horrendous burns in 1993 while washing clothes in a kerosene driven washer. The kerosene spilled on to her body and then ignited. So badly burned and so close to death was she, that the doctors induced her labour in an attempt to at least save the baby she was carrying.
Her partner at the time was world record high jumper, Javier Sotomayor. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive.
Running for her life the small woman lay in the hospital in Havana. Terrible burns covered her body. She could not move and she could not see. She could hear a voice close to her bed. “If Ana lives,” the doctor said, “she will never run again.” But Ana Quirot, the famous international runner, could not accept these words.
After a month in intensive care Quirot herself beat the odds and slowly recovered.
She returned to running as just part of her mental and physical recovery. Her once beautiful body and face was now horribly scarred and it became a stark reminder to what she had overcome every time she stepped onto the track.
In 1995 one of the greatest comebacks in history was completed. Quirot won the 800 metres world title in Gothenburg. The tears that flooded down her face when she received the Olympic silver in Atlanta behind Russian Svetlana Masterkova, spoke volumes of the pain she had endured.
But she was not finished yet. Quirot defended her world title in 1997 in Athens defeating the great rival Maria Mutola.
"Sports made me start training again,” Quirot said. “It would have been impossible for me to come back without sports. If I had not run again, I believe I would have died, And when I started training again, that gave me life."
Her partner at the time was world record high jumper, Javier Sotomayor. Unfortunately, the baby did not survive.
Running for her life the small woman lay in the hospital in Havana. Terrible burns covered her body. She could not move and she could not see. She could hear a voice close to her bed. “If Ana lives,” the doctor said, “she will never run again.” But Ana Quirot, the famous international runner, could not accept these words.
After a month in intensive care Quirot herself beat the odds and slowly recovered.
She returned to running as just part of her mental and physical recovery. Her once beautiful body and face was now horribly scarred and it became a stark reminder to what she had overcome every time she stepped onto the track.
In 1995 one of the greatest comebacks in history was completed. Quirot won the 800 metres world title in Gothenburg. The tears that flooded down her face when she received the Olympic silver in Atlanta behind Russian Svetlana Masterkova, spoke volumes of the pain she had endured.
But she was not finished yet. Quirot defended her world title in 1997 in Athens defeating the great rival Maria Mutola.
"Sports made me start training again,” Quirot said. “It would have been impossible for me to come back without sports. If I had not run again, I believe I would have died, And when I started training again, that gave me life."
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