What many suspected is now official: the legendary Cuban fighterMijaín López will take to the mattresses of Paris 2024 in search of his fifth Olympic title.
"I'm fighting again in the Paris Olympic Games," the 40-year-old gladiator from Pinar del Río toldUnited World Wrestling. "I want to become thefirst wrestler to win five Olympic gold medals".
In Tokyo 2020, López beat the Georgian in the final of the 130 kilogram categoryJacob Kajaia, became four-time champion under the five rings andsurpassed what was achieved by the Russian Alexander Karelin, who had three gold awards and another silver.
Thus, the Cuban giant equaled what was previously done by the JapaneseKaori Icho, which had been imposed in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
In January of this year, López broke his silence after leaving the competition at the end of the Japanese summer competition (August 2021) and gave the official siteCubaYes a preview of what has now been made public.
"I already talked about it with the coaching team and I want to test myself to see what happens, the body is the one that will tell me if I can withstand the training loads," he declared then.
"After a year of rest we have to see how the body reacts to the training to see if I can continue," he added. "I should be about 10 or 15 kilograms above my ideal weight, but throughout my career I have always been able to reduce when necessary, that doesn't worry me too much."
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