Takedown Report

Cuba’s wrestling legend Mijaín López aims to break Olympic record at Paris 2024

Four-time Olympic champion Mijaín López has returned to training with the national team, and he is targeting a fifth Olympic gold in Paris next year.
Cuba’s wrestling legend Mijaín López is poised to make even more history in his sport.

The 40-year-old is already part of an exclusive club that includes only Americans Michael Phelps (swimming), Carl Lewis (long jump), Alfred Oerter (discus throw), and Denmark’s Paul Elvstrøm (sailing). They are the only male athletes to have won individual gold medals in the same individual event at four consecutive Olympic Games.

López is now set to make his international return to competitions, two years after securing the title in the men’s 130 kg (286-pound) Greco-Roman category at Tokyo 2020.

“I am coming back to wrestle at the Paris Olympic Games. I want to become the first wrestler to win five Olympic gold medals,” López announced as reported by United World Wrestling.

Dubbed ‘El Terrible’, the four-time Olympic champion is currently in Croatia with the Cuban national wrestling team, where he will start his preparation for Paris 2024. … rest of story and pictures at Olympics.com/en/news/mijain-lopez-cuba-wrestling-break-record-paris-2024

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Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez returns to break Olympic record he shares with Michael Phelps

Cuban Mijaín López plans to return to competitive wrestling in a bid to become the first person to win the same individual Olympic event five times.

At the Tokyo Games, López became the fifth person to win the same individual Olympic event four times after Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Al Oerter and Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm. Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho also won four individual Olympic titles, but over two different weight classes.

If he makes it to Paris, López would also bid to tie the record of winning an individual gold medal at five Olympics, set by Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst last year. Wüst‘s golds alternated between the 1500m and 3000m.

López last competed internationally at the Tokyo Games, which was expected to be his farewell. But López did not leave his shoes on the mat (the symbolic act of retirement in wrestling) after winning the Greco-Roman super heavyweight (286-pound) title and said later that year that he had not yet decided whether to make a Paris 2024 bid.

Cuban media recently reported that López was back in training, including with the national team in Croatia this week. United World Wrestling then reported Monday that López said he is making another Olympic bid.

López shares the record of five Olympic wrestling appearances and in Paris can become the oldest person to win an Olympic wrestling medal of any color, according to Olympedia.org.

The 6-foot-5 López, whose nicknames include El Terrible, may face a challenge just to make the Cuban Olympic team. Countryman Óscar Pino, 29, won super heavyweight silver or bronze at the world championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019, when Lopez did not compete in any world championships in that Olympic cycle and competed sparingly overall. … rest of story at Olympics.nbcsports.com/2023/05/23/mijain-lopez-olympics-wrestling-cuba-gold-medals

June 9, 2023 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized