Caracas (AFP)

The Queen is back.

Welcomed by a hundred people at the airport and then with great fanfare on the Venezuelan square in Caracas, Yulimar Rojas, Olympic champion in the triple jump with a world record, does not shy away from her pleasure: singing and dancing on the podiums, she shouts her joy at having returned to the country after a year "away from her own".

"I have a smile that goes from ear to ear. What a joy to see all these people waiting for me! I have not experienced anything like it," said Yulimar Rojas, 25, gold medalist Olympic around the neck, brandishing the Diamond League trophy, rewarding the entire athletics season.

Eyes darkened by twenty hours of travel, Yulimar, short platinum hair, kisses his family at the airport.

Some shed a small tear.

"Even if we talk to each other every day on the phone, I am moved after a year without seeing her. And there, she comes back loaded: champion, Olympic, world record, Diamond League", smiles her sister Yerilda Zapata.

- "First lady" -

"It was the perfect season, assures Yulimar Rojas. In Rio (2nd of the 2016 Olympics), I missed a few centimeters. There, I was able to win. The Diamond League, I had failed twice and the third was the right one ... For me, it was a dream to become the first Venezuelan woman to conquer Olympic gold (2 men's gold medals in 1968 and 2012) ", she says to her supporters in Caracas, after a twenty-minute ride in his coach, a double-decker bus.

"The dream can come true. You can make it happen with work and perseverance. This victory is not only mine, it is all of you," she adds, receiving cheers from the crowd.

The queen, 1m92, exceeds her subjects by several heads.

The one who has not forgotten her humble origins bends down to greet children, jumps in all directions to chant "Yulimar" or "Venezuela!"

and dance to Latin rhythms with steps that resemble those she performs before her jumps.

a Yuri CORTEZ AFP

The monarch does not hesitate to speak about herself in the third person, but without pretension.

"There are a lot of them in me, and I am in them. I am moved, very, very happy. Happy to be in Venezuela. I have to enjoy my family," she confides.

- "Seasoned" -

The fans greet her, wave their arms.

"For me, it's a pride that Yulimar wins gold. It shows that women can succeed in whatever they do," said Maria De Los Angeles Flores, civil servant.

Jhonny Tamiche, dancer, is also happy that people are coming to welcome the champion.

"She deserves it. And, she deserves a lot more!"

"It's the world record for emotion," says speaker Victor Cordero.

But, politics is never far away.

In Venezuela Square, the authorities, present in large numbers, fired rockets and firecrackers, raining a shower of confetti.

Yulimar Rojas, aboard a double-decker bus, is celebrated like a heroine upon her return to Venezuela, September 14, 2021 Yuri CORTEZ AFP

The power of Socialist President Nicolas Maduro regularly praises the athlete.

Among the fans, Hernan Quintero, member of the Venezuelan symphony orchestra, came with his son.

"At the worst moment of the crisis, in the worst circumstances! It is the victory of the struggle for the liberation of all of South America", proclaims the musician, while the country has seen its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fall by 80% since 2013, in particular due to the fall in oil prices but also to the political crisis.

The country is the subject of economic sanctions, in particular from the United States, which seeks to oust Nicolas Maduro from power, whose election has not been recognized by some fifty countries.

On stage, Yulimar remains above the fray and announces: the victories of 2021 are "just the beginning of other victories and other medals (...) with a different, seasoned Yulimar!"

© 2021 AFP