Greco-Roman wrestling can seem archaic and impenetrable to the layman – huge, powerful men locking onto one another and manoeuvring each other around a mat in some kind of massive hug . But when Cuba ’s Mijain Lopez, known as ‘Giant of Herradura’, is in the arena, it quickly becomes very simple. Even at 41, Lopez’s superhuman strength is obvious.
He decides how the combat will go and everyone else simply has to fall into line. In Paris on Tuesday, he made history. No one, not Carl Lewis or Al Oerter or even Michael Phelps has won the same individual event at five consecutive Olympics .
Until now. As Lopez prepared for his historic bout against Chile’s Yasmani Acosta Fernandez, you could sense that the crowd in attendance was aware of what was at stake. For anyone left with any doubt, the presence of IOC president Thomas Bach was a giveaway.
Bach was not about to miss out on a moment of history. His opponent, Fernandez, is here representing Chile. But like Lopez, he was born in Cuba.
His reason for leaving the island was to step out of the shadow of his idol and to get his chance to compete at this level. They remain close, and even spoke ahead of the final. Fernandez said: “I asked him, as a joke, if he had any advice to give me before the final.
He responded, ‘What do you mean? The final is against me.’ But at the end, he just wished me a good match.” Lopez may have been joking but he was also correct.
Fernandez competed manfully, but just as has been the.