“Cuba will go to Río de Janeiro to reaffirm its status as a sporting powerhouse, and thus will be looking to place among the top 20 countries,” stated Dr. Antonio Becali, president oftheInstitute of Sports, Recreation and Physical Education (INDER), during a press conference where it was also announced that to date Cuban 85 athletes (24 female) across 13 sports have qualified for the Games
Becali noted that the historic leader of the Revolution’s 90th birthday will serve as motivation for the country’s athletes to compete and achieve honorable results. “Winning medals on the day will be our greatest gift,” he stated.
The country’s current qualification roster stands at: athletics, 28; men’s volleyball, 12; wrestling, 10; boxing, nine; rowing and shooting, seven each; gymnastics, three; cycling, modern pentathlon and table tennis, all with two athletes; whiletaekwondo, fencing and cannoning each have one representative.
As its stands, 70 of the 231 pre-selection athletes are looking to secure a ticket to the Games in 14 disciplines, noteworthy among which are judo, track and field, weight lifting, rowing, badminton and cycling, to complete a delegation which according to José Antonio Miranda, director for High Performance at INDER, should be somewhere between 110-120 members, with an average of 25 years.
Miranda noted that of the current qualifiers, 54 competed in the London 2012 Olympics, including five gold, two silver and four bronze medalists, while the remaining athletes will be debuting under the five rings in Río, on which occasion Cuba will not be competing in 15 of 28 sports and 179 of 306 scheduled events.
He highlighted that pre-selection training is going well, with thorough monthly check ups and individual physical, psychological and medical-biological exams, as well as opponent assessments, especially for potential medalists.
Becali pointed out that none of the qualifying athletes are injured and praised the results of Cuba’s sporting movement over the last four years, after representatives won 44 medals in World Championship competitions during this period, including 21 by 19 competitors in 2015 alone, a significant achievement by which to measure possible results in Brazil.
“The settings, contexts and demands of the Olympic Games are different to those of the Pan American Games,” stated Becali, adding, “I am sure that historic disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, judo, athletics and taekwando will bear the weight of medals, as well as other happy results which could come from gymnastics, rowing or sport shooting. In general our athletes have faced an extremely challenging situation this cycle with the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico 2014; the Pan American Games in Toronto and now the Olympic Games in Brazil.” He stated.
The Pan American Games failed to be an effective gauge by which to determine possible results looking toward Rio, as the country slipped from second to fourth place in the competition with a total of 36 gold, 27 silver and 34 bronze medals.
Meanwhile, with less than 100 days to go until the start of the Games, the Brazilian Olympic Committee has confirmed that, thus far, 428 of the country’s athletes have qualified.
Within this context, it is pleasing to note that Greco-Roman wrestler and double Olympic Champion (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), Mijaín López, has been appointed to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission, of which stellar volleyball player Yumilka Ruiz, is currently also a member.
