Manuel Huerta, a Miami triathlete and native of Cuba, will compete in the 2012 London Olympics.
The 28-year-old Huerta, who moved to Miami from Cuba when he was 13, will be making his first Olympic appearance.
Huerta qualified for the Olympics by finishing ninth at the ITU World Triathlon San Diego on Saturday. He joins three-time Olympian Hunter Kemper on the US team. Laura Bennett, Gwen Jorgenson, and Sarah Groff will compete in the women's triathlon for the US.
He overcame an early deficit in the swimming portion of the race, catching up to the lead pack in the cycling portion and surpassing the other Americans in the race during the running portion.
"I knew that it would come down to the run," Huerta told the Miami Herald. "I was pretty much on the last pack on the swim, but I stayed positive; I stayed calm. We caught up, and then I set myself in very good position on the bike on the last couple laps, and then I went out with my heart and then gave everything I had."
Huerta and his family defected to the US in 1997, where he later earned an athletic scholarship at Florida Atlantic University. He first became enamored with running and swimming while watching the Olympics as a child on Cuban state-run television. He ran cross-country in high school, which got him his FAU scholarship.
"I never, never gave up on my dream," Huerta told the Associated Press on Saturday. "I battled through so many downs and ups, like many athletes, but I knew that today it was special. I was racing in my new country and I wanted to make my dream come true. For many young Hispanics like me, who come to America with that dream, they stick to their dream and they never give up."
Local
The Olympics will be held in London from July 25 to August 12.
