Career
Fortun was ranked by the experts of Track and Field News as 10th in the world in 1950 at 100 m and 5th in 1951. Fortun was a very successful competitor at the Central American and Caribbean Games. Fortun came from a vey humble background in the Cuban province of Camaguey.
Originally he was a high jumper but moved the sprints when he realised his talent for them.
He also played baseball, a traditional sporting route out of poverty in Cuba at the time. Fortun had to train barefoot until a gift of sporting shoes was made by a local priest.
His athletic talent was not appreciated by the authorities in Cuba at the time. He had to seek gifts of money to enable him to attend the Olympic Games of 1948 and 1952 and was fired from his job at the Ministry of Public Affairs for attending the 1951 Pan American Games.
Fortun died of cancer in 1982.