OLYMPIC GAMES | WRESTLING
Cuban wrestler Mijaín López wins another Olympic gold medal
The Cuban wrestler made history at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after winning the second medal for his country this summer and the fourth in this prolific career.
Mijaín López is considered to be the best wrestler in the history of the Olympic Games after winning his fourth career gold medal on Monday. The Cuban defeated Georgia’s Lakobi Kajaia 5-0 in the final on Monday to give Cuba their second medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
López surpassed Russian Alexandr Karelin
López has been outstanding and nobody was able to score a point this tournament. The Cuban defeated Israel’s Amin Mirzazadeh 9-0, Romania’s Alin Alexuc 8-0 and Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp 2-0 to book his spot in the final.
The Cuban wrestler gave his country the second medal this summer and both were obtained in Greco-Roman wrestling (Olympic wrestling explained here). López won the gold medal in the last four Olympic Games and he has now surpassed the great Russian wrestler Alexandr Karelin.
Karelin was seen as the greatest wrestler of all time, from 1988 to 1999 winning nine straight World Championships and three straight gold medals at the Olympics. He was nicknamed ‘The Experiment’ and no one thought his record would be broken, until today.
López has more gold medals (4) than Karelin, but he has only won five world titles. He was always seen as second to ‘The Experiment’ but after his prolific performance in Tokyo, López is now considered to be the best Greco-Roman wrestler of all-time.