• Submitted by: lena campos
• Sports
• 11 / 28 / 2013

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Several Cuban Olympic medallists owe much of their success to opportune medical treatments, according to Dr. Rodrigo Álvarez Cambra, a recognized authority on the subject.

During a master's lecture as part of the 5th International Convention of Physical Activity and Sports, the specialist summed up his greatest satisfactions in the recovery of high performance athletes.

One of the first athletes he treated was runner Alberto Juantorena, who had a double-neuroma operation two months before the Olympic Games of Montreal-1976, and recovered in time to win gold medals in both the 400-m and 800-m events.

For the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Alvarez Cambra treated boxer Teófilo Stevenson for two broken ribs, and javelin thrower María Caridad Colón for a serious sprain of her spinal column 10 minutes before she was crowned.

One athlete who was a recurrent patient at the Frank País Orthopedics Center, where Alvarez Cambra is director, was volleyball player Mireya Luis, who he treated for a dislocated shoulder, a fracture and a dorsal-lumbar hernia.

Source: Prensa Latina