Cuban Mijaín López and Chile's Yasmani Acosta will compete this Tuesday for the 130-kilogram crown in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
López, king in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, and Tokyo 2020, defeated the Azerbaijani Sabah Shariati (4-1), while Acosta mirrored him against the Chinese Lingzhe Meng (1-1) in the semifinal round.
The "Horseshoe Giant" began his journey successfully against the South Korean Lee Seung-chan (7-0) and then defeated one of the favorites, the Iranian Amir Mirzazadeh (3-1), the champion of the 2023 Belgrade World Championship.
The Antillean has only suffered two defeats in the last 16 years (2011, 2015 against the Turk Riza Kayalp), and his only setback in these competitions occurred on August 24, 2004, when in Athens, Greece, he lost to the Russian Kashan Baroev.
Without a doubt, at 41 years of age, the Antillean's dominance remains overwhelming and defies the prediction of the prestigious American magazine Sports Illustrated, which forecast a bronze medal for him.
Acosta's journey was a bit more complicated, although he executed his strategy perfectly in each of the matches. In his debut, he won 1-1 (by scoring the last point) against the Bulgarian Kiril Milenov and then eliminated one of the favorites, the Egyptian Abdellatif Mohamed (2-1), a several-time medalist in world competitions.
López and Acosta were teammates in the Greater Antilles until the latter decided not to return to the island and build the successful career he has in representing Chile.
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