It is not certain that many people know the name of Mijaín López, except for the fanatics of grappling. Yet we are talking about one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, who has won more Olympic championships in the same event than anyone else in history.

In two weeks, this 42-year-old Cuban veteran became Olympic heavyweight champion for the fifth time on Sunday, wiping out such giants as Michael Phelps, Al Oerter, Katie Ledecky or even Carl Lewis from the top of the record list.

Carl Lewis (long jump), Michael Phelps (200m individual medley), Katie Ledecky (800m breaststroke), Al Oerter (discus), Paul Elvström (sailing), Kaori Icho (wrestling, 61kg).

The six of them held one of the most cherished records in the sports world until Sunday; they won four consecutive Olympic titles in the same event. For the sake of completeness, the Cuban heavyweight wrestler Mijaín López was also among them.

But only in the past tense.

Because the "Giant of Herradura", who will celebrate his forty-second birthday in two weeks, this sports world class who is 196 centimeters tall and weighs 130 kilograms, became the Olympic champion for the fifth time in a row in the heavy weight category of grapple wrestling, in the former 120, nowadays 130 kilogram category.

It's a feat that no one has ever been able to do since the modern Olympics have been held for 128 years.

Let's mention that there are two ladies in team sports, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, two members of the United States women's basketball team, who won the Olympics five times between 2004 and 2021. Moreover, Taurasi could even become Olympic champion for the sixth time in a few days. Favorit is in the quarter-finals with his team, where he will face Nigeria tonight to advance.

When López beat Chile's Yasmani Acosta 6-0 in the final, he took off his wrestling shoes and, following the noble tradition of the sport, placed them in the middle of the mat, signaling his retirement for good. Now for good.

Because in 2021, after the Tokyo Olympics, when he won his fourth gold medal, he had already finished competitive sports, but then he reactivated himself for Paris. What can you say about that, you made the right decision.

Mijain López was born on August 20, 1982 in the village of Herradura, Pinar del Río province, in the western province of Cuba. As a small child, he carried crates of fruit, which made him so strong that he started playing baseball at the age of ten. However, he soon changed the Cuban national sport to wrestling, because it turned out to be his specialty.

His first big success was winning the Pan American Championship in the 120 kg weight group in 2002 in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and a year later he also won the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. This is how he arrived at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where he lost to the Russian Kasan Baroyev in the quarterfinals on August 24, 2004, four days after his twentieth birthday.

At the time, no one could have guessed that this would be Cuba's last defeat at the Olympics. He announced his retirement on Tuesday with a record of 22-1.

López did not find a winner in Beijing, London, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and now Paris. Meanwhile, it is no coincidence that he won five world championships (in 2005, for example, in Budapest), the same number of Pan American Games, and three World Cups (in Budapest in 2006). Of course, it also happened to him because he lost, but never at the Olympics; In 2006, 2011 and 2015, he was a silver medalist at the World Cup.

He retired after Tokyo and did not compete in a single official match until Paris. However, last year he decided to return to the mat. He has not yet started at the 2023 Pan American Games because his father died then. However, he trained steadfastly and prepared for the big comeback.

His compatriot and student, Oscar Pino, won the quota for Cuba, but he gave it to López, nicknamed El Terrible (the Terrible), who swept South Korea's Lee Seung-chan 7:0 in the first round in Paris, and then in the quarterfinals, he beat the current world champion, Iran's Amin Mirzazadeh, 3:1. Sabah Shariati from Azerbaijan followed in the semi-finals, beating him 4:1, and Acosta capitulated in the final with a 6:0 defeat.

Acosta was born in Cuba, but only one wrestler from each weight group can participate in the Olympics, so he was naturalized by the Chileans shortly before his participation in Paris. López and 26-year-old Acosta are old friends, before the final the latter asked his old fighter what tactics he would recommend for the final.

Are you out of your mind? López retorted. "I'm your opponent in the final!"

And El Terrible wrapped up Acosta in his order and manner. Then, after his victory was announced, he gracefully walked to the center of the mat, laced up his wrestling shoes, kissed him, lifted them above his head, and then placed them on the mat, traditionally signaling that he was done.

This time for good.

It's time to rest. Now the young people will follow

he said, then walked off the carpet in tears.

The 8,000 spectators, including International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, stood and applauded.

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