In the history of the trendy Olympic Games, relationship all the way in which again to 1896, just one athlete, Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust, has managed to win 5 golds in 5 successive Games.
Cuban wrestler, Mijain Lopez, nonetheless, is trying to match her achievement when he lands in Paris in the summer season for what can be his sixth Games, despite the fact that he has not competed for over two years.
“I’m going to do it,” the ever-confident Lopez informed AFP.
“The fatigue is there, the body aches are there, so the mind has to be strong, the motivation has to be even stronger,” he mentioned, dripping with perspiration after an intense three-hour coaching session on the mats on the Cerro Pelado high-performance centre in Havana.
If the perspiration and the inspiration do the job in Paris, the 1.98m (6ft 5in) Greco-Roman wrestler will transfer forward of such luminaries because the Americans Carl Lewis (lengthy bounce), Michael Phelps (swimming, 200m medley) and Al Oerter (discus), Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom (crusing) and Japan’s Kaori Icho (wrestling), all of whom received particular person gold in 4 totally different editions of the Games.
– ‘Confidence’ –
When, simply shy of his thirty ninth birthday, the Cuban big overcame the Georgian Iakobi Kajaia in the 130kg competitors in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games three years in the past, it was extensively anticipated to be his swansong. He has not competed since.
But the 41-year-old — he turns 42 on August 20, simply after the Paris Games finish — is set to grapple once more, not simply with his opponents however with his personal advancing years.
The first battle he has needed to struggle was with himself, getting his weight stabilised under the required 130kg. He remains to be a couple of kilos above however the coaching periods are paying off.
“Confidence” is his watchword, each in his skills and in his coach, Raul Trujillo, who guided him to gold in Rio and Tokyo.
Lopez reckons a fifth Olympic title “is an attainable goal”.
“It’s just a question of listening to the coach and trusting all his training plans,” he says. “Not to injure myself … and then I’ll go to Paris to fight.”
– Olympic journey –
Lopez’s Olympic journey started in the 120kg class in Athens in 2004 when he had simply turned 22. He topped his preliminary pool however went out to the eventual winner Khasan Baroyev in the quarter-final.
The Athens defeat was the one one in 18 Olympic matches for Lopez, who has additionally been flag-bearer for the Cuban delegation on the final 4 opening ceremonies.
Four years later in Beijing he turned the tables on Baroyev — who was later stripped of his silver for doping — and repeated that success in London 4 years later.
Lopez went on to take gold in the 130kg class in Rio in 2016, the place his victory over Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp was celebrated with a joyous salsa shimmy on the mat, and once more in Tokyo.
In Paris, the whole lot will come all the way down to the small particulars.
“The preparation is going well,” he insists.
“I think we’ve achieved exactly what we set out to do.
“We spent two months in coaching centres in Croatia and Bulgaria, the place I used to be fortunate sufficient to have the ability to practice with prime athletes.”
It was an opportunity to test himself against some of the best wrestlers in his category, such as China’s Meng Lingzhe and Egypt’s Mohamed Abdellatif, ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the world.
These training sessions in Europe, in January and February, marked what he calls “Mijain’s flight to Paris”.
“It gave me the enjoyment I used to be wanting for, I really feel joyful”, he says.
Preparations will continue in the seaside resort of Varadero, 150km east of Havana before the trek to the Champ de Mars Arena where Lopez will attempt to lift himself alongside Wust in the pantheon of Olympic legends.
“Everything will occur as regular,” he says breezily. “The fact is on the market on the mat and, I inform you, I’m going to do it.”
