On August 6 (Paris time), legendary Cuban wrestler Mijaín López became the first athlete in history to win gold medals at five Olympic Games after winning the final of the 130kg classical wrestling event.
Cuban wrestler Mijaín Lopez. Photo: AFP
In front of a crowd of spectators waiting for this historic milestone, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach, Lopez defeated Chilean-Cuban athlete Yasmani Acosta 6-0. Since finishing fifth in his first Olympic appearance in Athens in 2004, the Cuban wrestler, who is about to turn 42, has won every consecutive appearance since. Entering the 2024 Paris Olympics after 2 years of training only at home and not participating in international competitions, Mijaín López quickly affirmed that his class is still at the top level when he continuously defeated "heavyweight" opponents in this super heavyweight category with different scores: Korean wrestler Lee Seungchan (7-0), current world champion from Iran Amin Mirzazadeh (3-1) - notably Mirzazadeh was the first opponent to score against López since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Azerbaijani wrestler Sabah Salah Shariati (4-1), before defeating his former teammate who is currently competing for the Chilean team in the final. Thus, Mijaín López has surpassed other sports legends who have shared with him the achievement of winning gold medals at 4 Olympic Games, including Michael Phelps (USA, swimming), Carl Lewis (USA, long jump), Alfred Oerter (USA, discus throw) and Paul Elvstrom (Denmark, sailing) to become the only person in history to have stepped on the highest podium at 5 different Olympic Games. Mijaín López’s achievement is also Cuba’s first gold medal at Paris 2024. At this Olympics, the “free island” sports delegation aims to be in the top 20 sports delegations with the best results, similar to the milestone achieved at Tokyo 2020 with 14th place and 7 gold medals. Mijaín López’s record is the latest miracle of Cuban sports, a country with just over 10 million people but has won a total of 85 gold medals in the history of the Olympics, ranking first in Latin America with a large gap compared to the second-ranked country in the region, Brazil.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/the-thao/olympic-2024-vdv-cuba-tro-thanh-nguoi-dau-tien-gianh-hcv-tai-5-ky-olympic-20240807061714007.htm
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