The spell has been broken. Since Sunday, October 22, Haiti has won its very first medal at the Pan American Games since the bronze earned in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Joël Brutus (+100 kg) in judo. To achieve this feat, the talented Haitian taekwondoist Ava Soon Lee, in the -67 kg category in Santiago, Chile, reached the final, which she lost (2-0), with scores of 2-4 and 2-11 against the Mexican Leslie Xcaret Soltero Garcia.

To solidify this achievement, Ava Soon Lee, who has already won five medals in 2023 (2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze), including the silver medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, triumphed over her opponents: Sarahi Molina (Honduras) in the round of sixteen, Claudia Gallardo (Chile) in the quarter-finals, and Caroline Dos Santos (Brazil) in the semi-finals before losing in the final.