London Olympics silver medallist Luguelin Santos (400m) will be following his coach José Ludwig Rubio to oil-rich Bahrain. Rubio in October 2017 had announced his appointment to head the Bahrain athletics team. For several years he had been head coach at the Universidad Interamericana in Puerto Rico, where several Dominican track athletes had received scholarships to train and study, including Luguelin Santos.
Also joining Rubio in Bahrain will be outstanding Dominican track athletes, 22-year old Juander Santos (Luguelin’s brother) and Rubio’s wife, Dominican Olympian sprinter Mariely Sánchez (national record holder in the 100 and 200 dash) and their three-year old daughter.
Juander Santos won gold at the Taipei, Taiwan World University Games and the Bolivarian Games in Colombia. He is a specialist in 400m and 400m hurdles. Like his brother, he had a scholarship to study at the Interamericana in Puerto Rico.
The athletes will continue in Bahrain their preparations for the Central American and Caribbean Games that will take place from 19 July to 3 August in Barranquilla, Colombia.
As reported, the job in Bahrain will enable Rubio to coach world class athletes with good chances at winning medals in the 2020 Olympic games. Bahrain has naturalized several outstanding Kenyan and Nigerian athletes that today compete for Bahrain. These include Salwa Eid Naser, originally of Nigeria.
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El Dia
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
8 January 2018
