Hugo Franco I could barely hold back my tears. The goalkeeper from Pinar del Río hugged his coach and, pointing to the sky of Antalya (Turkey), celebrated his success: he had secured a place in archery for Cuba in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Final Archery Qualifier put five Olympic quotas in the men’s individual category at stake. Franco, who is ranked 39th in the world ranking, started as seeded, but had to reach the semifinals to obtain that place.
The goalkeeper from Pinar del Río defeated the Belgian in the fourth round Theo Carbonetti (7-3) and in the decisive quarter-final duel he beat the Iranian Faez Mohammadizardkhaneh by the same result (7-3) to secure the Olympic spot.
This achievement marks the return of Cuban archery to the Olympic Games eight years after its last participation in Rio 2016. The best result to date is 5th place in Juan Carlos Stevens in Beijing 2008.
The quotas for this archery qualifier are for the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which have exclusive authority over the representation of their respective countries in the Olympic Games.
Therefore, the participation of each athlete in the Paris Games will depend on the selection of their NOC to represent their delegation in Paris 2024.
Hugo Franco has an extensive international history in archery, highlighting the three bronze medals at the San Salvador 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, and the silver at the 2022 Pan American Championship.
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