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Mijaín López

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Mijaín López
López (left) at the 2009 World Championships
Personal information
Full nameMijaín López Núñez
Nickname(s)The Kid, El Terrible, The Giant of Herradura
Born (1982-08-20) 20 August 1982 (age 41)
Entronque de Herradura, Cuba
Height1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight131.5 kg (290 lb)
Sport
Country Cuba
SportWrestling
EventGreco-Roman
ClubCerro Pelado
Coached byPedro Val
Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Representing  Cuba
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 5 0 0
World Championship 5 3 0
World Cup 3 0 0
World University Championship 1 0 0
Pan American Games 5 0 0
Central American and Caribbean Games 3 0 0
Pan American Championship 9 1 0
Grand Prix Ivan Poddubny 0 0 1
Junior Pan American Wrestling Championship 2 0 0
Total 33 4 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2012 London 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 130 kg
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo 130 kg
Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris 130 kg
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Budapest 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2007 Baku 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2009 Herning 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2010 Moscow 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Tashkent 130 kg
Silver medal – second place 2006 Guangzhou 120 kg
Silver medal – second place 2011 Istanbul 120 kg
Silver medal – second place 2015 Las Vegas 130 kg
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2005 Tehran 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2006 Budapest 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2009 Clermont-Ferrand 120 kg
World University Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Izmir 120 kg
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2003 Santo Domingo 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2007 Rio de Janeiro 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto 130 kg
Gold medal – first place 2019 Lima 130 kg
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 San Juan 130 kg[1]
Gold medal – first place 2014 Veracruz 130 kg[2]
Gold medal – first place 2018 Barranquilla 130 kg
Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Maracaibo 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2004 Guatemala City 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2005 Guatemala City 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2006 Rio de Janeiro 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2007 San Salvador 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2008 Colorado Springs 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2009 Maracaibo 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2012 Colorado Springs 120 kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Mexico City 130 kg
Silver medal – second place 2003 Guatemala City 120 kg
Junior Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Bogota 120 kg
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Junior Pan American Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Bogota 120 kg

Mijaín López Núñez (born 20 August 1982) is a Cuban retired Greco-Roman wrestler. Widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, López is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time World Champion, and five-time Pan American Games champion. He is the younger brother of Michel López Núñez, a Cuban amateur boxer.[3] On 3 July 2024, he and the Cuban judoka Idalys Ortíz were designated as the flag bearers for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.[4]

Upon beating Yasmani Acosta of Chile in the 2024 Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling 130 kg final, López became the first and only athlete in modern Olympics history to win five consecutive gold medals in the same individual event.[5]

Career

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López has represented Cuba at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics in Athens, Beijing, and London, and was his country's flag bearer during the opening ceremonies in 2008 and 2012.[6] In both competitions, he won the gold medal in the men's Greco-Roman 120 kg category.[7] At the 2016 Rio Games, López won Gold in the 130 kg category. He again won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games without losing a single point in the tournament, becoming the first male wrestler to win four Olympic gold medals, as well as only the fifth athlete to win four gold medals in the same individual event.[8] During the opening ceremony of the same Olympics, he also became the first Cuban representative to become the country’s flag bearer four times, breaking the tie between Teófilo Stevenson and himself.[9]

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, López won his fifth gold medal, becoming the first Olympic athlete in any sport to win five gold medals in the same individual event. He subsequently left his wrestling shoes in the center of the mat after his victory, signifying his retirement from the sport.[10]

International competition record

[edit]
International competition record[11]
Res. Opponent Method Time/
Score
Date Event Location Venue

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Details of the 130 kg division Greco-Roman event at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 2014 from the United World Wrestling Database.
  2. ^ Details of the 130 kg division Greco-Roman event at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, November 2014 from the United World Wrestling Database.
  3. ^ "International Wrestling Database".
  4. ^ "MIJÁIN LÓPEZ E IDALYS ORTIZ, ABANDERADOS DE CUBA EN PARÍS 2024" (in Spanish). Olympics.com.es. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Cuba's Mijaín López wins fifth gold, record in individual event". ESPN. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  6. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mijaín López". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Cuba's Lopez wins 120 kg Greco-roman wrestling gold". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Wrestler wins fourth straight Olympic gold". BBC Sport.
  9. ^ "The flagbearers for the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony" (PDF). olympics.com. IOC. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  10. ^ Schad, Tom. "A Cuban wrestler won his fifth straight Olympic gold and then immediately retired". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
  11. ^ Mijaín López Núñez profile available at the United World Wrestling Database.
[edit]
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Cuba
Beijing 2008
London 2012
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Tokyo 2020

2024 Summer Olympics(with Yaime Pérez
Idalys Ortíz)
Succeeded by
Incumbent