Olympic Champion Ruben Limardo turns Delivery boy to make ends meet

The story of 2012 Venezuelan Fencing Olympic champion, Ruben Limardo, is strange yet heartwarming.

With a large delivery bag on his back, he cycles around his adopted hometown in Poland delivering food parcels to people. His story of trying to make ends meet during the difficult times, the pandemic has caused, is really touching.

The 35-year-old gold medalist will compete again in Tokyo next year. However, he stunned his fans when he revealed the nature of his job on social media.

His caption is in Polish. It can be roughly translated to, “If you are in Lodz – Poland and ask @UberEats. Your food may be delivered by a champion who decided never to give up.”

“You have to earn your way and this is a job like any other,” he told AFP as he went about his typical day of training and delivering parcels for Uber Eats.

And he is not the only one. 20 other members of Venezuela’s National Fencing Team are living in a similar improbable existence in Lodz, Poland.

“We are all delivery riders,” Limardo said, speaking in fluent Polish.

Ruben Limardo won his Olympic medal 8 years ago. He is the first Latin American fencer to do so since Cuba’s Ramon Font in 1904. He is the second Venezuelan to win an Olympic gold, 44 years after boxer Francisco Rodriguez.

Five mornings a week, the young Venezuelan fencers gather at a former workshop in a largely abandoned industrial site in Lodz to cross swords.

Their white uniforms clash against the yellow, red and blue of their national flag which dominate the decor.

Outside, bikes and a pile of green cool-bags await. At the stroke of 1:00 pm the fencers finish their training and have a quick shower. Then they are ready to set off for their deliveries in the chilly Polish autumn.

“We get very little money from Venezuela because of the crisis there. And the pandemic has turned everything around. There are no competitions, the Tokyo Olympics were delayed for a year and the sponsors are saying they will start paying again in the new year,” Limardo explained.

Limardo further added the need to do this job.

“That’s why we have to make money on the road,” he added. He cycles around 50 km per day and earns 100 euros a week.

“It works well with our training. We could even say it is an extension of the training,” he said.

Limardo is married and a father of two kids.

“It allows us to live, finish our studies. We help each other out with training, paying rents. Everyone works to finance the others in the group,” he said.

Since moving to Poland, Limardo has created a foundation for Venezuelan fencers. He also had found a club to take part in local tournaments as well as a fencing school for children.

The pandemic has made things difficult but the school is still running. The fencers take turns to teach lessons.

“But above all we are training to resume competition at any moment. The dream is still there,” Limardo said. He will be competing in Tokyo next year. He still has a dream to win a medal there.

“Every time I make a delivery I tell myself that it will help me win the medal I want at Tokyo in 2021,” he concluded.