Havana, August 6 ( RHC / Prensa Latina )-- Four-time Olympic champion Mijaín López thanked Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today for his conversation after reaching the final of the 130 kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
"Thank you for your call," López said at the end of the conversation with the president, according to the Cuban sports newspaper Jit on social media X.
"Be sure that tomorrow [Tuesday ] that title will be for Cuba," Mijaín assured Díaz-Canel.
The Cuban wrestler will fight Tuesday for his fifth crown under the five rings, after beating Azerbaijani Sabah Shariati, world ranking leader in 2024, in the semifinals.
The living legend of Greco-Roman wrestling managed to unbalance Shariati in the first half to go 3-0 ahead, and in the second, with a counterattack, he scored another to win 4-1.
For the title, he will face the Cuban, naturalized Chilean, Yasmani Acosta, who beat the Chinese Lingzhe Meng in the other semifinal. The five-time world champion also declared that he has always fulfilled what he has promised the Cuban people, in reference to the commitment to reach his fifth consecutive Olympic final.
"I know that in Cuba, everyone is in front of the television. There is only one step left to dance a little more," he commented during an exchange with journalists accredited to the summer event.
"I am happy to be able to fight here for my fifth gold medal and to be able to give the Cuban people joy," he expressed.
Lopez also said that with the 3-1 victory against the Iranian Amin Mirzazadeh in his second appearance on Monday, he overcame a major obstacle on the road to winning the competition.
Mirzazadeh, the current world champion, was considered the main contender for the gold medal, and for the native of Herradura, in the western province of Pinar del Río, the fight between the two was an early final.
"He is a young man who comes inspired, with the desire to win the title, but between youth and experience, experience always prevails," stressed the legendary Cuban fighter.
