Cuban Mijain Lopez retires after winning record-breaking 5th Olympic gold medal in wrestling
Cuban born heavyweight Mijain Lopez just set a record at the Olympics that may never be broken.
The 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler wrapped up a fifth consecutive gold medal at 130kg on Tuesday in Paris, an achievement that set several records for the legendary grappler. He defeated fellow Cuban born wrestler Yasmani Acosta Fernandez, a representative of Chile. Fernandez previously left his home country because he knew he may never get the chance to make an Olympic team with Lopez still competing.
Despite his prudent decision, Fernandez still came up short, with Lopez winning the match in a shutout via a 6-0 score.
Lopez becomes the first person in Olympic wrestling history to win five gold medals. He’s also the first athlete in any sport to win the same event five times.
Mijain Lopez makes history! He is the first athlete to be a 5x Olympic gold medalist in the same event, and is also the oldest medalist in Olympic wrestling history at 41 years old. His journey is over, leaving his shoes on the mat and retiring. What a moment. #wrestling pic.twitter.com/6H1kLbb0us
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) August 6, 2024
With his win, Lopez also ties Germany’s Wilfried Dietrich for the most medals ever won in wrestling with five total.
Lopez is also the oldest Olympic wrestling medalist ever at 41, just a couple of weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.
In addition to his remarkable run at the Olympics, Lopez is also a five-time World Champion and three-time silver medalist at the World Championships of wrestling.
Following the match and his historic win, Lopez removed his shoes and left them in the center of the mat, which is a wrestler’s way of retiring from the sport.