Erislandy Alvarez.
Havana, Aug. 8 (RHC) - Cuba dawned Thursday in 21st place in the medal tally of the Paris-2024 Olympic Games, after winning one medal of each color the day before and totaling five (2-1-2).
The island's best performance of the day came from boxer Erislandy Alvarez, champion in his Olympic debut at 63.5 kg by defeating French idol Sofiane Oumiha in a 3-2 victory for the gold medal.
Alvarez, 24, was the last fighter of the Cuban squad to reach the Olympic ticket and the only one who managed to climb to the top of the podium. The other Cuban boxing medal in Paris went to two-time Olympic champion Arlen Lopez, bronze in 80 kg.
On the other hand, Yusneylis Guzmán (50 kg) made history in Cuban women's wrestling by winning silver, the first medal for the island in that discipline in its history.
Also in wrestling, Gabriel Rosillo won bronze in the classic style in 97 kg.
Meanwhile, Tokyo-2020 champion and world champion Luis Orta (67 kg), lost 9-0 (technical superiority) to Iran's Ismaeili and this Thursday will be in the repechage to fight for bronze.
In athletics, triple jump world champion Lazaro Martinez was the only one of the three Cubans representing his country's Federation to advance to the final (16.79), the other two, Cristian Napoles and Andy Hechavarria, could not. Roxana Gomez could not advance to the 400m final after finishing fifth in her semifinal heat (50.48), Luis Zayas also failed to advance to the high jump final, finishing in 2.24.
Meanwhile, in diving, Anisley García qualified for the semifinals (18 best) this Thursday in the 3-meter springboard with an accumulated 272.40 units.