LEON VENERO Wilfredo

31 Jul 1993
28
Male
Youth Olympian
2.02/6'7''
SANTIAGO DE CUBA
 
Cuba
WARSAW
 
Poland

Events and Medals

Discipline Event Rank Medal
VVO Volleyball Men 5

Schedule

Change
Start Time Location Event Status
Ariake Arena
POL
Poland
2
IRI
Islamic Rep. of Iran
3
Finished
Ariake Arena
POL
Poland
3
ITA
Italy
0
Finished
Ariake Arena
POL
Poland
3
VEN
Venezuela
1
Finished
Ariake Arena
JPN
Japan
0
POL
Poland
3
Finished
Ariake Arena
POL
Poland
3
CAN
Canada
0
Finished
Ariake Arena
POL
Poland
2
FRA
France
3
Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

:
World Championship
RankEventYearLocation
2Men2010Italy

Nations League - Final Round
RankEventYearLocation
2Men2021Italy

European Championship
RankEventYearLocation
3Men2019
:
Fifi, Wifi (newsweek.pl, 10 Aug 2019; wp.pl, 08 Nov 2019)
:
Fishing, baseball, spending time with friends. (polsatsport.pl, 26 Jul 2019, 18 Feb 2019; olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
Athlete
:
Wife Malgorzata, daughter Natalia [2017], one son [2019]
:
English, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish
:
Sir Safety Conad Perugia [Italy] since 2018/19
:
Nikola Grbic [club], SRB; Vital Heynen [national], BEL
:
Wing spiker (olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
Right (Volleyball World YouTube channel, 03 Nov 2015)
:
2008 for Cuba, World League (onet.pl, 13 Apr 2016)
:
SuperLega [ITA] (Instagram profile, 06 May 2021)
:
He took up volleyball at age seven in Cuba. (onet.pl, 28 May 2019)
:
"I was a very active kid, I loved to play. Both my parents were working and every time they came home, they saw I still had a lot of energy. They realised they needed to find a way to wear me down a bit. My mum used to be a volleyball player and decided to talk with her former coach, and she took me to train with a women's team. I thought it was a good opportunity to meet older kids." (onet.pl, 28 May 2019; olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
To win a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
Winning bronze at the 2019 European Championship, which was his first medal for Poland, and winning the Champions League with Russian club Zenit Kazan in four consecutive seasons from 2014/15 to 2017/18. (tvp.pl, 27 Dec 2019; polsatsport.pl, 26 Jul 2019)
:
Cuban volleyball player Joel Despaigne. (Athlete, 16 Dec 2010; olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
His mother. (olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)
:
"Once I achieve a goal, I immediately set a new one - it gives me the motivation to play and be in the best shape possible." (4f.com.pl, 03 Dec 2020)
:
In 2019 he was named Best Outside Hitter at both the World Cup in Japan and the European Championship. (fivb.com, 17 Oct 2019; cev.eu, 04 Oct 2019)

He was named Best Outside Hitter of the Champions League for the 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. He was also named Most Valuable Player [MVP] of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 editions of the tournament. (cev.eu, 01 Apr 2015, 17 Apr 2016, 30 Apr 2017, 13 May 2018)

He was named Best Outside Hitter at the club world championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017. (fivb.com, 24 Oct 2016, 17 Dec 2017, 31 Oct 2015)

He received the Best Scorer and Best Spiker awards at the 2011 North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation [NORCECA] Championship in Puerto Rico. (norceca.net, 03 Sep 2011)

He received the Most Valuable Player [MVP] and Best Spiker awards at the 2009 NORCECA Championship in Puerto Rico. (norceca.net, 17 Oct 2009)

General Interest

General
FROM CUBA TO POLAND
Born and raised in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, he initially represented his country of birth and won silver with Cuba at the 2010 World Championship in Italy. He moved to Poland in 2013, gained citizenship there in 2015, and played his first match for the Polish national team in July 2019 in a friendly against the Netherlands. "I met my future wife and I knew that I wanted to be with her in Poland. When I decided to leave Cuba, Poland was a natural destination for me and I bought an apartment there. My wife played a huge role in my decision and I love everything about my new country, the people and the food. I am and I feel Polish. On top of that, I needed to play abroad to improve my level. It was a good decision and I would never change it." (wp.pl, 24 Jul 2019; onet.pl, 28 May 2019; przegladsportowy.pl, 27 Jul 2019; olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)

TEAM OWNER
He is co-owner of Anioly UMK Torun, a volleyball team that will join the Polish league system for the 2021/22 season. His wife Malgorzata is vice president of the club. "My wife is from Torun. There has always been high-level sports there, except men's volleyball. My dream is to build a high-level team similar to ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle. Along with the professional team, the club will also have youth divisions called the Wilfredo Leon Academy." (sport.tvp.pl, 04 May 2021, 05 May 2021)

EARLY DEBUT
He made his senior international debut for Cuba at age 14 during the 2008 World League. "We were losing 0-2 and I could not just watch from the bench. I told the coach I was ready to play. He said, 'Okay young man, show me what you can do'. I stepped onto the court and scored nine points in one set, and five more in the next. We eventually lost 1-3, but it was an amazing experience for me. Everyone was saying that it was a very good start for a kid so young. It was my first experience with the senior team and I ended up becoming a regular which was quite an achievement. That experience allowed me to develop and grow mentally really quickly. When I was 13 or 14, some of my teammates were 29 years old. It made my character stronger, it gave me discipline." (onet.pl, 26 Jul 2019; olympicchannel.com, 18 Apr 2020)

Legend
:
Gold Medal Event
:
Silver Medal Event
:
Bronze Medal Event
Timing and scoring provided by OMEGA. Results powered by Atos