Cuban judo athlete reported missing

Yurisel Laborde, a gold-medal winner at the Pan American Judo Championships in Miami, left the Cuba delegation and her whereabouts are unknown.
Posted on Mon, May. 12, 2008

BY DAVID QUINONES
dquinones@MiamiHerald.com
Judo Champion Yurisel Laborde, who won a gold medal at last week's Pan American Judo Championships in Miami, left the contingent sometime Sunday afternoon, according to a judo official.
HECTOR GABINO / EL NUEVO HERALD
Judo Champion Yurisel Laborde, who won a gold medal at last week's Pan American Judo Championships in Miami, left the contingent sometime Sunday afternoon, according to a judo official.



One of the four Cuban women who won gold medals at the Pan American Judo Championships last week in Miami left the contingent sometime Sunday afternoon, according to Team USA President Jose Rodriguez.

Yurisel Laborde, a gold-medal winner at the Pan American Championships and a gold-medal favorite in the Beijing Olympics this summer, left the Cuban delegation and her whereabouts were not publicly known, according to a judo official.

It's unclear if she will rejoin teammates who are scheduled to fly back to Havana on Monday afternoon.

The departure of the athlete caused a swirl of speculation about her intentions, especially after the visiting Cuban team had performed so well during the competition.

The judo official said Laborde, 28, packed her bags and left a note for her teammates explaining her actions. The source would not say what her intentions were, but noted that the athlete still could rejoin the team for its scheduled departure to Havana at 2 p.m. Monday.

Laborde was one of four women who won gold medals for Cuba during the week. The others were Driulis González, Idalis Ortíz and Yanet Bermoy. Ortíz competed in Sunday's activities and Bermoy was seen at the James L. Knight Center on Sunday afternoon, taking in the action but not competing. Laborde and González were not seen Sunday at the tournament.

''We have a specific protocol for who we contact and how we go about it in these situations,'' said Rodriguez, flanked by a member of USA Judo's security team. USA Judo organized the tournament and was responsible for security.

Rodriguez added that he had contacted a government agency but declined to say which one.

Reached at home Sunday night, Zachary Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he was not aware of the situation.

``Until someone comes forward, we can't do anything,''Mann said. ``There's no set precedent for when someone defects. They may come forward right away, they may have family or friends.''

Several calls and a visit to area Catholic churches, a traditional first-stop for Cuban defectors, yielded no results.

It has been more than 40 years since Cuba sent an Olympic team of any sort to Miami. The week was largely uneventful, with only a small protest last week.

On March 14, seven members of the Cuban national soccer team defected following a match in Tampa.