From the mats aboard the Cerro Pelado, the ship which transported Cuban athletes to the 10th Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico, to the Carioca Arena in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to participation in Germany’s Bundesliga wrestling league, Cuban Greco-Roman style gladiators have demonstrated the Caribbean nation’s international supremacy in this discipline.
This dominance was further revealed in the recent update of the global rankings for the 2016 season, with Russia and Cuba as the only nations to occupy two of the top spots thanks, of course, to the two gold medal winners at the Río Summer Games: Mijaín López in the 130 kilograms division and Ismael Borrero in the 59kg.
The “Giant of Herradura” (López) secured a chest-lock to spectacularly flip Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp onto his back, enough to snatch away his Olympic dream, as well as first place in the world rankings he had held until then. The Cuban three-time gold medal winner under the five rings now rightfully ends the year at the very top of the ranking.
Borrero, meanwhile, maintained the lead position he has held since the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas. His title in Río only confirmed this peak moment in the renowned fighter’s career, at the age of just 24. Also notable was the performance of silver medalist in the 59kg division, Japan’s Shinobu Ota, who saw the biggest jump in the rankings, rising from 12th to second place.
Another Cuban featuring among the top of his class is Olympic silver medalist Yasmani Lugo (98kg). The wrestler from Pinar del Río had the best competition of his life on August 16, with his intelligence proving to be his best weapon in each fight. With this memorable performance, Lugo climbed to second place in the rankings, behind his rival in the Olympic final, Armenian Artur Aleksanyan.
The other two Cubans to feature in the Top 20 are Miguel Martínez in the 66kg division, ranking 13th, and Yurisandi Hernández (75kg) in 19th place. Martínez fell from eighth place after losing in Brazil to Azerbaijani Rasul Chunayev in the first fight, while Yurisandy failed to pass the 1/8 final (first round) after losing to Andrew Thomas Bishkek, of the United States.
