Against the Tyrians and Trojans in front of the world, the Cuban wrestler Mijaín López enhanced his legend this Tuesday and defeated his compatriot Yasmani Acosta (6-0), representative of Chile, to become a five-time Olympic champion in a historic final in the 130 kilograms of Greco-Roman style at Paris 2024.
With the support of the thousands of people who filled the Champ de Mars Arena, the "Horseshoe Giant" extended his dominance in the heavyweight division and demonstrated that, despite his 41 years, he still carries the endurance and desires of a youth, in addition to those extra doses provided by the experience gained in hundreds of battles on the mats.
That said, it is understood that he is categorized as the "GOAT" (the greatest of all time) of wrestling, with five other universal titles and four in multi-sport competitions at the continental level. The victory represented the island's first gold medal in the current competition under the five rings.
The story goes that his only defeat in the Olympic Games occurred on the distant date of August 24, 2004, against the Russian Kashan Baroev. After that came only smiles and dances in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, and Tokyo 2020. Unbeatable.
Without fear of comments, we can say that Mijaín is one of the best athletes in history. The results back up this statement. A man who arrived in France without having fought since 2021 and always seemed like the effort was just taking a stroll near the Eiffel Tower. Unstoppable.
The applause also goes to Acosta, a fighter trained on the island who decided to emigrate in 2015, precisely in search of greater opportunities due to having López in the same division. After almost two decades in pursuit of a major result, he has just achieved it in the capital of France.
With López's gold, Cuba climbs to the 35th spot in the overall standings, far -very far- still from the forecasts of the sports authorities of the Caribbean island.
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