Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greatest Olympian of them all? Ask an American, and they would probably say Michael Phelps. In Cuba, you might get a different answer.
The Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López started his bid to become arguably the greatest Olympian of the modern era on Monday, as he moved one grapple closer to an unrivalled fifth consecutive gold in a single event.
While Phelps defeated hundreds of competitors over four Olympic Games to win his 28 medals (23 of them gold) and become the most decorated Olympian of modern times, at Paris 2024 López hopes to face down the athlete’s greatest foe: time itself. “I will do it,” the 41-year-old said in March. “The fatigue is there, the physical pain is there, so the mind has to be strong, the motivation has to be even stronger.”
Greco-Roman wrestling is rarely the marquee sport of an Olympics these days, but its primordial allure was on full display at the Champ de Mars Arena as the Olympics entered its second week. Chosen as one of the founding sports in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, Greco-Roman wrestling – unlike freestyle – is still only open to men, who use their immense upper body strength in unforgiving cliches, scoring point by executing holds, locks, throws, or other legal takedowns.
But the origins of the sport go far back into the annals of history. Cave paintings depict wrestling back to 3000BC, with the sport one of the first included in the Ancient Olympics more than seven centuries before the birth of Christ. According to legend, the celebrated Ancient Greek wrestler Milo of Croton was so strong he could break a cord tied around his head with only the force of his brow, having trained with a growing ox on his back as a young man.
López, by contrast built his strength chasing animals and carting fruit boxes in Herradura, a small town in western Cuba. Known to his parents as “el purro” (strong boy), he started wrestling at 10 years old.
Three decades on as he entered the arena for what must surely be his final Olympics, there was an air of reverence for one of the true greats of this, or any, sport. He was just 21 at his first Olympics in Athens, where he only placed fifth, but went on to take gold in Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo. Twenty years later, and just two weeks off his 42nd birthday, López looked as hungry as an emerging star on the opening day of his sixth Olympics, his vast bulk a commanding and adored presence.
The cheers for the reigning champion almost matched those for France’s Koumba Larroque, who continued her quest to change the image of the sport, in which she competes in the 68kg category. “There are still people who think that wrestling is a male sport,” she said before the Games. “I find it hard to understand that.”
Competing in the immense 130kg category López may no longer have the pace and agility of the young man trying out his talent in his first Olympics, but all formidable strength, guile and years of experience were on display in this temporary stadium in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
The five-times world champion showed no mercy to South Korea’s 28-year-old Lee Seungchan in the opening fight, winning 7-0 in the short six-minute match. A quarter-final against Iran’s 26-year-old Amin Mirzazadeh – who won the world championship title in 2023 promised to be more difficult. But his mountain-like frame stood strong, withstanding the attacks from the Iranian to beat his rival by three points to one.
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López came into these games with the sheen of a legend, but as a competitor who has, in recent years, chosen to reserve his strength for the greatest challenge of his career.
El Terrible, as the wrestler is known because of his terrifying presence on the mat, has not competed since Tokyo. His coach Raúl Trujillo, who stopped to speak to reporters after a sweat-drenched López powered past to the athletes area, said that it was important that the wrestler remained injury free before the Games. “He has been here for many years, so it is very important to conserve his body. The most important [competition] for him is the Olympics. He’s an older wrestler, he needs to look after himself.”
Speaking after the Pan-American games last year, López also pointed to the death of his father as a key reason why he chose not to defend his title in 2023 in the super-heavyweight category of that competition. “My father passed away in September, and I could not combine one thing with another. I was not feeling good,” he said at the time.
“I didn’t feel this drive that I always have going into a competition. People always see me come to the multisport Games with joy, with competitiveness, and I was not feeling that way.”
As he destroyed his opponents on the first day of the Greco-Roman wrestling on Monday, that joy was once again on display. He continues inexorably towards the final glories of his career.