It is not news that takes you by surprise. Between the constant emigration of boxers and the decline of the sport in general, Cuba not getting a complete boxing team for the 2024 Paris Olympics seemed like a safe bet. But it is still striking.
pugilism amateur on the island it was for many years the final push in the Olympic medal table, the “wait, the boxers come into action in the last days.” Four or five titles fell into the bag in the final dates and the Antillean delegation went from being just another Caribbean island to being among the sporting powers.
Boxing was that, that some specialist described as a “flagship” and that is currently nothing more than “a little paper boat” that depends on the push of two illustrious people and that we are seeing sinking before our eyes without us being able to do anything.
The figures don’t lie. Even for the ruling party, the fact that only five Cuban boxers qualified for the Paris Olympics is a blow they did not count on.
According to the magazine Hit —questions to judges aside— of the four Cuban fighters in the pre-Olympic tournament in Thailand last week, only Erislandy Álvarez (63.5 kg) qualified and Fernando Arzola, Jorge Cuéllar (71 kg) and Yaquelín Estornell (66 kg) were left behind. ), the only woman who aspired to enter an Olympics for the first time.
In addition to Álvarez, the boxers Julio César La Cruz (92 kg), Arlen López (80 kg), Saidel Horta (57 kg) and Alejandro Claro (51 kg) qualified for the boxing competition in the French capital next August. Only La Cruz and López stand out as the strongest candidates for gold medals on the list.
With the fall of Arzola in the pre-Olympic against the Ecuadorian Gerlon Congo, just 23 years old, Cuba could not add more fighters to the Olympic team and ended the streak it had since Barcelona 1992, where it always had a super heavyweight. Small remains of the shipwreck.
Data of Olympics They reflect that, above the island, only the United States boxing delegation has won more gold medals in the history of the modern Olympic Games. Cuba is feared in the ring and his school (spread in bits and pieces around the world) has been the subject of study and numerous reports.
The style that the great Alcides Sagarra imbued not only won Olympic glory for the island, but also produced numerous champions (Teófilo Stevenson, Armando Martínez, Ariel Ascuy).
According to boxer Julio César La Cruz, the “hit and dodge” style is what characterizes the Cuban school. A seal that made him crowned in Tokyo 2020 and that four years later can return him to glory in a similar scenario.
Cuba’s current aspirations pass through him and the other two-time Olympic champion, Arlen López. The rest of the boys could scratch some Olympic metal. They have longings.
“It’s a dream to have that Olympic medal,” Álvarez told Olympics after winning a place at the Olympics next summer.
Regarding women’s boxing, it was known that the delay in inserting Cuban women due to pure machismo on the part of the country’s top managers was going to later cost the ringsince nations in the area (Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia) have years of advantage that cannot be erased from a swing.
A date as close as December 2022 — when the island approved women’s boxing as a high-performance sport — left no room for Cuban boxers to advance too much on the scene.
Now they have to dig from the bottom in regional (Central American) tournaments and work their way up thanks to the mental backwardness of Cuban sports decision-makers.
«The Cuban woman never gives up. There is a lot of future ahead,” said Yaquelín Estornell when he fell in his second fight of the Pre-Olympic.
The so-called “flagship” of Cuban sport has sunk so much that even Spain, a country that is in 44th place in the ranking history of Olympic boxing (with just two silver and two bronze medals), will bring more fighters to Paris.
The Iberian delegation has five fighters in the male category and one female. That is, six in total, surpassing the number of boxers who managed to qualify on the island.
I repeat, it is not that the news of the Cuban boxing debacle took us by surprise, but like every romance that ends we are left with the feeling that “every time in the past was better.”
THE TOUCH IT IS A CREATION SPACE OPEN TO DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW. THIS MATERIAL RESPONDS TO THE OPINION OF ITS AUTHOR, WHICH DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE EDITORIAL POSITION OF THE MEDIA.
