Cuba’s performance in the recently concluded Olympic Games in London-2012 has a host of readings. Most fans will idolize a long time the five gold medals we won, the most opportunistic will only recall that the task was to surpass the harvest from four years ago in Beijing, and most critics will see the sixteenth place reached by Cuba as a Pyrrhic victory.
The Cuban delegation harvested five gold medals, three silvers and six bronze. Every Cuban lived fully the surprising triumph of Leuris Pupo in the 25 meters rapid fire pistol, exploded with excitement with the lofty title of judoka Idalys Ortiz, who victimized in her way to the gold the “invincible” Chinese Tong Wen; their jumps of excitement moved the planet’s axis when the golden demigod of Greco-Roman wrestling Mijain Lopez had a superb performance, and lost their voices from screaming during the presentations of boxers Roniel Iglesias and Robeisy Ramirez, two unexpected champions.
However, to dub the Cuban performance as outstanding would be selling smoke. If the King Pyrrhus of Epirus had seen this battle of London he would have said the same thing as 23 centuries ago: “Another such victory and I come back to Epirus alone”
Despite how dear are to our hearts are the performances of swimmer Hanser Garcia, decathlete Leonel Suarez, pole vaulter Yarisley Silva, or wrestler Livan Lopez, we must also close our eyes and fill ourselves with pragmatism to remember that we harvested 10 medals less than in Beijing, for a grand total of 14, the lowest number of medals since Montreal-1976. That is a really disturbing figure.
Telling the truth can be dangerous, but ignoring the truth can be even more dangerous, said Plato. In London we witnessed top athletes who underperformed, some new arrivals whose level of expertise was far, to say the least, from what is expected at the Olympics, others suffered injuries at the peak of the competitions and several of them seemed scared in the face of such challenge.
¿We improved over Beijing? Some say yes, others simply no, I will leave the answer to you, the absolute truth is for oracles, although it is valid to note that only one of the favorites for the title confirmed his status with pure gold, Mijaín, and the other four Olympic came, without exception, unexpectedly.
I hope these five gold medals are put to better use than flourishing triumphalist speeches. I hope these fives oases in the middle of the desert unleash a set of changes that the Cuban sports movement has been so badly in need of for over a decade. I hope those changes are for the best.
We’ll see what happens in Rio 2016, the Olympic Games at the rhythm of samba that will demand Cubans a enormous effort to re-validate its top position ahead the other Latin American nations:
Cuban Medallists in London Olympic Games:
Gold:
-1.Leuris Pupo, 25 meter rapid fire pistol.
-2.Idalys Ortiz, judo, +78 kilograms.
-3.Mijaín López, Greco-Roman wrestling, 120 kilograms.
-4.Roniel Iglesias, boxing, 64 kilograms.
-5.Robeisy Ramírez, boxing, 52 kilograms.
Silver:
-1.Yanet Bermoy, judo, 52 kilograms.
-2.Asley González, judo, 90 kilograms.
-3.Yarisley Silva, athletics, pole vault.
Bronze:
-1.Iván Cambar, weightlifting, 77 kilograms.
-2.Leonel Suárez, athletics, decathlon.
-3.Lázaro Álvarez, boxeo, 56 kilogramos.
-4.Yasnier Toledo, boxing, 60 kilograms.
-5.Robelis Despaigne, taekwondo, 80 kilograms.
-6.Liván López, free-style wrestling, 66 kilograms.
