Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today congratulated wrestler Mijaín López, four-time Olympic champion, who won the award for Best Male Athlete in the 57th edition of the Prensa Latina Sports Poll.

Havana, December 21 (Prensa Latina)-- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today congratulated wrestler Mijaín López, four-time Olympic champion, who won the award for Best Male Athlete in the 57th edition of the Prensa Latina Sports Poll.

On his official Twitter account, the president wrote: "Mijaín López, from Cuba, the best in Latin America. Congratulations champion."

At 39 years of age, Lopez, king of the super heavyweight category in the Greco-Roman style of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (held between July and August of this year), received a total of 41 votes to surpass Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi, second in the ranking with 19 preferences.

In this way, the Caribbean athlete, also a starter under the five rings in the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 editions, led the poll for the first time, becoming the second gladiator to achieve such a feat, after the leadership of his compatriot Raul Cascaret in 1985.

The athlete thus closes his umpteenth successful season, having also won the Outstanding Performance award for Tokyo 2020 from the Association of National Olympic Committees.

In addition, the considered the best greccista in history was selected Athlete of the Year in the Antillean island, and shared that recognition in his province of Pinar del Rio (in the west of the country), along with the same Olympic gold medalist Roniel Iglesias (boxing).

In the Japanese capital, Lopez defeated Georgia's Iakobi Kajaia 5-0 in the final of the 130-kilogram category, to become the only tetramonarch Olympic man.

This year's annual survey by the Latin American news agency Prensa Latina gathered 103 media outlets from 20 countries.