Mijaín and Yaimé will carry the flag in Tokyo
Havana, July 11 (RHC)-- INDER Vice President Ariel Sainz officially announced that Cuba's flag bearers at the Tokyo Olympic Games will be wrestler Mijaín López and discus throw champion Yaimé Pérez.
Speaking on the TV program Mesa Redonda, just hours before the official flag-bearing ceremony of the delegation, which took place this Saturday at the José Martí Memorial in the Plaza de la Revolución.
Mijaín will carry the national flag for the fourth consecutive time, which will be a record for the island, after the three times that fencer Ramón Fonst and boxer Teófilo Stevenson carried the Cuban flag in Olympic Games.
The gladiator also has the merit of having responded to the trust placed in him with gold medals in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016, as did the pugilist Teófilo Stevenson in Munich 1972, Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980.
Yaime Perez will also enter history in this way, as she will become the first Cuban flag bearer at the Olympic level.
Having two flag bearers, one of each sex, is one of the initiatives of the International Olympic Committee to put an end to discrimination.
According to press reports, presented at the Round Table, this Friday the Cuban consul in Barcelona (Spain), Gustavo Machín, handed over the national flag to Yaimé, who is in Castellón covering a preparation base for the sports event.
CUBAN FLAG BEARERS
Paris 1900: Ramón Fonst (Won gold)
San Luis 1904: Ramón Fonst (Gold)
Paris 1924: Ramón Fonst
Amsterdam 1928: José Barrientos Schweyer
London 1948: Raúl García Ordóñez
Helsinki 1952: Federico López Garrido
Melbourne 1956: Manuel Sanguily Betancourt
Rome 1960: José Yánez Ordaz
Tokyo 1964: Ernesto Varona Morell
Mexico 1968: Héctor Ramírez Guerra
Munich 1972: Teófilo Stevenson (Gold)
Montreal 1976: Teófilo Stevenson (Gold)
Moscow 1980: Teófilo Stevenson (Gold)
Barcelona 1992: Héctor Milián Pérez (Gold)
Atlanta 1996: Rolando Tucker (Bronze)
Sydney 2000: Félix Savón (Gold)
Athens 2004: Iván Pedroso
Beijing 2008: Mijaín López (Gold)
London 2012: Mijaín López (Gold)
Rio de Janeiro 2016: Mijaín López (Gold)
Tokyo 2020: Mijaín López and Yaimé Pérez (?)
