Yaima Ortíz

Biography

Yaima Ortiz Charro (born 9 November 1981, in Havana) is a retired Cuban volleyball player and model who competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She won a bronze medal with the Cuban national team in the 2004 Olympics.

== Career ==

=== 2001 === Ortiz made altitude training in March 2001 with the National Team in Riobamba, Ecuador in order to be in shape for the upcoming tournaments. She played the 2001 FIVB World Grand Prix, finishing in fourth place, and later played the 2001 NORCECA Championship in Santo Domingo, winning the silver medal.

=== 2002 === Ortiz was called to the Cerro Pelado Training Center as one of the national team rookies at the age of 21. She later played the 2002 Cuban National League with the club Occidentales that became league champion with Ortiz's help, and only lost one match in the whole season. After the Cuban league, she joined the national team under the guidance of coaches Eugenio George, Luis Felipe Calderón and Jorge Garbey, set to a four-country warmup tour before the Pan American Cup. After beating the Dominican Republic 3–1, she won the 2002 Pan-American Cup gold medal. Shortly after that, she departed to the 2002 FIVB World Grand Prix in a competition where her national team ranked in seventh place. She was among the Cuban team called for the 2002 FIVB World Championship, in which she mostly played as substitute player. However, her team lost 0–3 to the United States in the quarterfinals and had to settle for playing the fifth to eight places round. After defeating Bulgaria 3–2, they won 3–2 over Korea to reach the tournament's fifth place.

=== 2003 === Ortiz was part of the Cuban team that won the 2003 Pan-American Cup bronze medal. She then was called to play the 2003 Pan American Games where her team won the silver medal when they lost 2–3 to the Dominican Republic in the gold medal match. Ortiz played the 2003 FIVB World Cup where her team qualified by winning the 2003 NORCECA Continental Championship silver medal.

=== 2004 === Ortiz was among the core of the national team that was getting ready for the 2004 Summer Olympics. She led all the spikers during the 2004 Pan-American Cup held in Mexico, with a 56.00 percent success, winning the gold medal and the Best Spiker award. She was a member of the Cuban team which won the bronze medal in the Olympic tournament. She played under the guidance of the veteran coach Nikolay Karpol with the Russian club Dinamo Moscow Oblast for the 2004/05 season with fellow Cuban Marta Sánchez, where she said she felt like home and became very interested in the country.

=== 2005 === Ortiz helped Cuba to win the 2005 Pan-American Cup championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She was chosen to play the 2005 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix and she ranked fourth in the final standings. Later in August, she played in Santiago, Dominican Republic and she helped Cuba to win their qualification tournament for the 2006 FIVB World Championship. Ortiz helped the Cuban team over the Dominican Republic in the 2005 NORCECA Championship semifinals before they settled for the silver medal when falling to the United States 2–3, failing the championship and the ticket to the FIVB Grand Champions Cup. She played for Uralochka-NTMK for 2005/06.

=== 2006 === Ortiz was one of the key players of the Occidentales victory in the 2006 Cuban National Games, when they defeated the Dominican Republic representatives 3–1. She then headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico to participate in the 2006 Pan-American Cup, where they won the silver medal after falling 1–3 to Brazil, and the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games. She then played the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix, but she could not play as an attacker because she was injured. In the 2006 World Championship she played as Rosir Calderon's substitute for serve and defense because she was still recovering from knee surgery. She also played as a libero.