#GrecoMonday: International Greco-Roman star Alan Vera escapes Cuba to join USA Wrestling

In early 2016, Alan Vera traveled to Frisco, Texas, with the Cuban delegation to compete at the 2016 Pan American Championships. What he didn’t expect was that he wouldn’t be returning home to Cuba.

Days after winning the Pan American Championships at 85 kg in Greco-Roman, Vera decided to flee from the Cuban delegation just one day before the Pan American Olympic Qualifier.

“I made weight, but I left the day before the tournament because in this moment, I saw so many problems with the future of my career in Cuba.”

Vera’s success started at a relatively young age.

He made the Cuban National Team in 2009 at just 18 years old, but that’s where he started to run into some problems.

“I was never a World Team member because we had so many problems with the economy,” Vera said. “Sometimes, if I lost at nationals, they would say, ‘Ok, you lost nationals. You can’t go anywhere,’ and that was fine. I agreed to that. But so many times when I won nationals they told me there was no funding for my weight class to go to the World Championships. I had to really think about it in 2016. What weighs more? The Olympic Games or my whole life? I realized that the Olympics is just a week or two, and it’s what I’ve wanted to do my whole life, but it’s just a sport. The quality of my life is why I made that decision.”

Seven years after making his first Cuban National Team, 25-year-old Vera set out to make a better life for himself, heading to Miami, where he had family.

“When I made the decision, nobody knew about it,” Vera said. “I made it pretty quickly. In the beginning, I thought the U.S. wouldn’t even think about letting me compete for them because they would need so many papers from Cuba like a release and all that.”

But he found a home with the Florida Jets and Coach JD Robbins, who put him on the right path to competing for the United States. While in Florida, Vera made a strong connection with Ruben Perez, a Cuban diner owner, who took Vera under his wing, making it possible for him to continue competing and to seek membership within USA Wrestling.

“Ruben had a connection with me from the beginning and he helped support me with every single thing,” Vera said. “He made it possible for me to compete this year. He made a donation to the Greco-Roman program for USA Wrestling. He helped pay UWW for the process of switching from Cuba to USA and my release from Cuba. I’m so thankful for this guy.”

But it would take a while before Vera was recognized as competing for the U.S.

Another meaningful connection made for Vera was getting to know U.S. women’s freestyle wrestler and 2012 World champion Elena Pirozhkova. She has earned three other World medals in addition to her 2012 gold and also represented the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The two had met previously in 2014, when Pirozhkova ventured to Havana, Cuba, for the Granma Cup.

Years later, the pair reconnected and eventually got married in October 2016. Shortly after getting married, they moved to New Jersey to continue their lives together, also setting big goals for themselves.

“We want to be the first wife and husband to compete at the Olympics together, and we are on the way!” Vera said.

During that time, Vera wrestled at the Bill Farrell International in New York City in November of 2016, where he won silver, falling to Alexander Kikinov of Belarus in the finals. Vera was still recognized by UWW as a Cuban athlete.

Fast forward to January 2019.

Vera competed at the Dave Schultz Memorial International, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and dominated the 87 kg bracket, taking out some of USA’s top Greco wrestlers with four-consecutive technical falls en route to gold.

It was only his second tournament since fleeing from Cuba and his first tournament competing for the USA.

However, while he can compete for the USA at various international tournaments, Vera is not yet able to compete for the U.S. at the World Championships or Continental Championships, thus not making him eligible for the 2019 U.S. Greco-Roman World Team Trials. But that could change.

“I need my U.S. passport if I want to compete at the U.S. Trials,” Vera said. “We’ve been trying to get it for over a year. I already have my residency in the U.S. I’ve been talking to my sponsors, coaches and lawyer to try to get it. The original goal was to get it for 2020, but we’re hoping it’s possible to get it before the Trials this year.”

While the fate of his 2019 season hangs in the air, Vera remains grateful for all the help he has received and continues to work hard toward his goal of becoming an Olympic champion.

“I feel really grateful to USA Wrestling because they opened the door for me for competing, training, good coaches and good partners and the membership to compete for the U.S.,” Vera said. “If I can continue competing for the U.S., I want to work with the USA athletes because I think they have really good potential to do something big.

“I have so many eyes on me now and so many people who believe in me. I made a promise to myself, my wife, my family, my teammates and coaches, so I have to work twice as hard because I want to become an Olympic champion.”