Image source, Reuters
Caption: Lopez has not lost a single game in her last five Olympics.Article information
- Author, Editorial
- Role, BBC News World
-
August 6, 2024
Cuban Mijaín López became the athlete with the most consecutive gold medals in the same individual event in the history of the Olympic Games on Tuesday.
The 41-year-old wrestler was the winner in Greco-Roman wrestling (130 kg) where he defeated Cuban-born Chilean Yasmani Acosta 6-0.
The “Horseshoe Giant”, standing at 1.98 m tall and weighing 131 kg, won his fifth consecutive gold medal, something that no other athlete had achieved in the past either in wrestling sports or in any other individual competition.
Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and now Paris 2024… In all these Olympic participations, López has not suffered any defeats. In fact, in the games in Japan no rival was able to take a point from him. In this edition he only lost two points in his four fights.
He has only lost twice in the last 16 years of competition.
American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most successful swimmer in history with 28 medals, has won four golds in a single individual event in his five Olympic Games.
Other athletes had also won four golds, but none of them had achieved a fifth medal.
After a big celebration, Lopez walked to the center of the track, took off his shoes and placed them in the center, a sign that this was the end of his career of more than 20 years.
Caption: Mijaín López took off his shoes in a sign of the end of his Olympic career.
Image source, Reuters
Caption: Lopez participated in six Olympic Games.
A fight between “master and student”
The Lopez-Acosta fight was the most anticipated at the La Défense Arena in Paris, as it pitted two fighters from the same Cuban school against each other.
Acosta, who was born on the Caribbean island, had trained with López since the beginning of his career. So much so that he considers the champion to be his “idol in the sport.”
“He’s my friend, my brother… Many of the things I learned today were thanks to him. Even 5 minutes before the semi-final fight he was giving me advice,” Acosta said before Tuesday’s fight.
Acosta defected from the Cuban delegation at the 2015 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile, where he stayed until becoming a naturalized citizen in 2018.
“Facing Mijaín is a privilege. Everyone wants to share the fight with the best and I really enjoyed it,” said Acosta after finishing the fight and winning the silver medal.
Image source, Reuters
Caption: Yasmani Acosta considers Mijaín López as his mentor.
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