The Olympic cycle governs sport worldwide, and it usually lasts four years. But the current cycle is atypical due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic came to shake all aspects of life.
That lethal disease caused the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed from 2020 to 2021, shortening the wait for the next event, Paris-2024, to three years. In contrast, the Central American and Caribbean Games, also a quadrennial event, was moved back five years and, for the first time, we will have that event and the Pan American Games in one calendar year.
For Cuba, this post-Olympic year brought the approval of the practice of women's boxing, as a response to the social transformations protected by the Constitution and the new Family Code, as well as the Program for the Advancement of Women.
Important moments were the gold medals won in world championships y judoist Andy Granda and canoeist Yarisleidis Cirilo. In the case of Granda, he not only won his first gold medal in world championships, but he was the only one to win a medal in the Cuban delegation in that event, in Tashkent.
For his part, Cirilo had won the final of the tandem canoe, along with Katherin Nuevo, while in the C1-200 he reached sixth place. This performance, in addition to the performances of José Ramón Pelier and Serguey Torres, is a guarantee of the promising future of Cuban canoeing, a discipline that in recent years has remained among the world elite.
Likewise, triathlete Lázaro Martínez won first place in the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade, while Arlenis Sierra achieved an extraordinary sixth place in the World Road Cycling Championships.
Leuris Pupo, a veteran of a thousand battles, became the first Cuban to qualify for Paris-2024, no less than his seventh summer event, with gold in London-2012 and silver in Tokyo-2020.
The Cuban government resumed presential tournaments at home, such as the Varadero Half Marathon, the Capablanca in Memoriam International Chess Tournament and the Marabana, the latter again in a competitive way. Also, Pinar del Río hosted the Norceca Area Men's Volleyball Challengers Tournament, in which Cuba came out triumphant, eventually winning at world level. Likewise, the second edition of the Havana Skate Marathon was held.
Among domestic competitions, Granma once again won the title of champion of the National Baseball Series, while the First Elite League of Cuban Baseball was launchemade its debut. Santiago de Cuba took first place in the Opening National Soccer Tournament and Artemisa, for the first time, did the same in the Closing Tournament. Havana dominated indoor soccer. Camagüey won the Playa Girón Boxing Championship.
In the international arena, the Cubans were crowned in the Baseball World Cup5, while the softball team reached a meritorious fifth place in the World Cup in New Zealand.
Cuba also attended the First Caribbean Games in Guadeloupe and the First Central American and Caribbean Sea and Beach Games, and joined the international professional boxing circuit, where it won 15 times and lost once.
In handball, the women's team won the Caribbean Cup and the men's team won silver. The youth team was crowned in the America and Caribbean Tournament.
The bitterest page, in competitive terms, ocurred during the World Championship of Athletics Oregon-2022, in which for the first time the Cuban representatives left empty-handed.
The year 2023 will be very intense. Most of the international federations have presented their route to Paris-2024, so the meetings in San Salvador and Santiago de Chile will be key to obtain tickets and to prepare for the great event.
Photo:
MARCH
Lazaro Martinez
World indoor gold in Belgrade-2022
APRIL
55th Capablanca International Tournament in Memoriam
MAY
Debut of the Cuban Dominadores in professional boxing
JUNE
Cuba was champion in NORCECA volleyball Challenger in Pinar del Río
AUGUST
Yarisleidis Cirilo and Katherin Nuevo, C-2 200 meters world champions
SEPTEMBER
Arlenis Sierra, sixth place in the World Road Championship
OCTOBER
Andy Granada, judo world champion (+100KG)
NOVEMBER
World champions in Baseballs
DECEMBER
Havana Skate Marathon
Artemisa, Champion of the Closing Tournament
Translated by ESTI
