Barrientos, first Matanzas native to achieve a world record in athletics.

Since 1946, in order to immortalize its history, the Cuban Athletics Federation has organized the Barrientos Memorial Tournament, which in 1960 acquired an international character.

Considered among the best runners in the world in the 100-meter dash in the 1920s, José Eduardo Barrientos Schweyer, from Matanzas, is the only Cuban who has managed to set two world records and equal two times the figure in that distance.

On March 26th, 1927, he equaled the then world record (10.4 seconds) held by American Charles Paddock, recognized as the best mark of the year by the International Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATSF).

His first record was set on May 8th, with 10.2 seconds, which was not homologated due to the existence of a tailwind. On March 31st, 1928, in the so-called Athletic Carnival of Havana, he achieved again 10 seconds and 2 tenths, which would be his second record, not officialized because the referees stipulated in the regulations of the International Federation did not exist.

At that stage, the Matanzas sprinter was in great shape, since on April 21st, 1928, he would again reach the time of 10.4 seconds to equal the world supremacy.

«Pepe» Barrientos was born in Matanzas on March 18th, 1904, where he attended his first studies and competed in long-distance races and baseball, in which he also excelled. His first competition was, precisely, a long-distance event between Limonar and Matanzas, in 1920, in which he won.

In 1923, at the University of Havana, he competed in the Senior category of inter-faculty athletics, where he won all the scheduled events and that is when he began to be called «El Relámpago Caribe» (The Caribbean Lightning). As a competitor during his student years he had no rival in Cuba or abroad.

Due to his sporting merits, he was selected to participate in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1928. He was the only Cuban competitor and the first born in the province of Matanzas to attend a quadrennial event. As he was the only Cuban representative, he had to be the standard bearer, but since he had to compete at the end of the parade, he could not perform that honorable function and was replaced by the son of the Cuban ambassador.

In the track, he qualified in the first heat with a discreet time of 11 seconds and 10 hundredths. In the second heat he was eliminated when he reached the finish line in fourth place.

The Antillean baseball player died on September 27th, 1945, when the plane in which he was traveling from Key West to Havana crashed into the sea. Since 1946, to immortalize his history, the Cuban Athletics Federation has organized the Barrientos Memorial Tournament, which became an international event in 1960.

Written by Francisco Soriano.