ANOC Award winner Mijain Lopez of Cuba makes history as first ever athlete to win 5 golds in the same event
Wrestling legend, Mijain Lopez of Cuba, wrote his name in the history books on Tuesday 7 August as he won gold in the men’s 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling, becoming the first ever athlete to win 5 Olympic gold medals in the same event.
Lopez, whose previous four gold medals secured him Outstanding Performance at the 2021 ANOC Awards, beat Yasmani Acosta of Chile 6-0 in the final.
The 41 year old has now won the event at 5 consecutive Olympic Games dating back to Beijing 2008.
“I’m happy. It has been an important achievement in my life, in my career,” he said after the final. “It has also been an achievement of all my coaching team, my mom, my dad, my family in general, that have been helping me in every single one of my tasks in the sport. And what better celebration than to have achieved this gold medal.”
“To achieve all of these results, one has to love their sport, love their job, and demonstrate to the world that with so little you can achieve great things.”
“I have a lot of inspiration for all the young people that come to me for guidance. I have a lot of inspiration to give to the world. I would like to educate the younger generations.”
“I feel happy and proud to be Cuban, and proud to have been able to bring this medal to Cuba.”
Having competed across five Games, to sum each one up in one word he said:
“Beijing – youth. London – transcendence. Rio – effort. Tokyo – sacrifice. Paris – joy.”
Photo by © Sarah Stier/Getty Images
