Olympics: Cuban Mijain Lopez retires after writing name in history books
Lopez defeats Acosta of Chile 6-0 and as a final gesture to his illustrious career
August 07, 2024
The legendary Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez has done it again.
Gold at Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and now, after not having competed since the last Olympic Games three years ago, at Paris 2024 — five consecutive gold medals in the superheavyweight Greco-Roman competitions.
In a remarkable display of skill and strength, Lopez defeated Acosta of Chile 6-0 and as a final gesture to his illustrious career, he removed his shoes and left them on the mat, symbolising his retirement.
The bronzes went to Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran and Meng Lingzhe of China.
This victory is historic as Lopez now holds five straight Olympic gold medals in an individual event. Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo, Paris — it has never been done before in any individual Olympic event, summer or winter, men’s or women’s.
With his victory, he broke a tie for four successive individual Olympic golds he shared with Carl Lewis (athletics/long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming/200m medley), Katie Ledecky (swimming/800m freestyle), Al Oerter (athletics/discus), Paul Elvstrom (sailing), and Kaori Icho (wrestling).
While Ireen Wüst skated into the record books in 2022, becoming the first athlete to claim individual gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games, her consecutive medals came in two different events, not the same event. She won three in the 1500m and two in the 3000m, so her record doesn’t match Lopez's five consecutive golds in the same event.
