Meet Janet Moreno Mendinueta, the only female umpire at Cuba's highest level of baseball

Meet the only female umpire in Cuba's Serie Nacional

By Gemma Kaneko

November 28, 2015

Will baseball ever be an Olympic sport again? After all, it was voted out of the 2012 Summer Games and may have missed being reinstated for 2020. But we shouldn't give up hope; we just need to take our lead from Cuba's Janet Moreno Mendinueta.

Moreno is one of seven women umpiring games in Cuba. She's the only one who can officiate at the highest level -- the other six are working their way up through the lower leagues. As she told reporter Courtney Barrow during Cuba's Serie Nacional:

"Little by little, we have achieved the inclusion of women, [for which] I was the driving force. … There isn't as much machismo," she said. "When people see women on the field, they are happy because they see we've crossed that barrier."

But what does this have to do with baseball returning to the Olympics? Well, Moreno also told Barrow she hopes to participate in the 2020 Games as an official. As you can see, obstacles mean nothing to her. If she wants baseball back in Tokyo's Games, we're pretty sure she'll get it. After all, that fight's not over yet.