{"id":242313,"date":"2021-08-08T07:15:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T11:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=242313"},"modified":"2021-08-08T07:15:51","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T11:15:51","slug":"cubas-first-titles-at-the-olympic-games-a-recount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/cubas-first-titles-at-the-olympic-games-a-recount\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba\u2019s first titles at the Olympic Games: a recount"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our blood pressure has not returned to normal since August 2. With a tremendous display of energy and intensity worthy of the greatest wrestlers in history, Luis Alberto Orta (La G\u00fcinera, 1994) altered the pulsations of a country and opened the golden path for Cuba in the <\/span>Tokyo Olympics<\/span><\/a>, something that was not predicted, not even in the forecasts most prone to fantasizing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The nation still hadn\u2019t completely woken up at dawn this Monday, when Orta defeated Japanese two-time world champion Kenichiro Fumita, struck down by the speed and determination of the young Havana gladiator, who had slipped into the finals with victories against two other world medalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The surprising escalade of the Cuban made the island start dreaming and confirmed Greco-Roman wrestling as the starting engine of the Caribbean teams in events under the five rings. The reason? Simple: in five of the last eight Olympic editions (from Barcelona 1992 to Tokyo 2020) this modality has marked the golden opening of the Cuban table of medals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Luis
Luis Alberto Orta gave a tremendous boost to the Cuban delegation with the first gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Photo: Reuters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If we take a look at history, there are 12 athletes (from seven different sports) who have broken the ice and pushed our delegations along the gold route in the summer games, where Cuba indisputably leads among all Latin American countries, with more of 80 gold titles.<\/span><\/p>\n

And since we are passionate about record books, we are going to delve a little into the athletes who have won the first gold medal for Cuba in each of the Olympic Games. I\u2019m just letting you know that there is a lot of shine in this list…<\/span><\/p>\n

Paris 1900<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Ram\u00f3n
Ram\u00f3n Fonst, first Cuban and Latin American champion in the Olympic Games. Photo: Taken from El Nuevo Herald.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fencer Ram\u00f3n Fonst won the only gold medal for Cuba at the 1900 Paris Olympics, the second of the modern era. That medal was the first for the island and for Latin America in the event under the five rings.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he was just 16 years old, Fonst took the crown in the amateur epee contest after defeating the powerful French team. The Cuban, a native of Havana, had spent a good part of his youth precisely in France, where he was trained as an athlete.<\/span><\/p>\n

That was the beginning of a trail of triumphs for Fonst, who more than a century later continues to be Cuba\u2019s top medal winner at the Olympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saint Louis 1904<\/b><\/p>\n

A full d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu from Paris. Again Ram\u00f3n Fonst opened the triumphal path for Cuba in what has been the most relevant performance of a Cuban athlete in the Olympic context. The fencer won three titles in Saint Luis, two of them in individual events and the other by teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

On September 7, 1904, at the Physical Culture Gymnasium, Fonst won the scepters for sword and foil, and the next day he won the foil by teams, to increase his total number of medals in the Olympic Games to five. Fonst returned to participate in the summer games in 1924, but did not climb to the podium.<\/span><\/p>\n

Munich 1972<\/b><\/p>\n

Cuba took almost 70 years to climb again to the top of the Olympic podium. In Munich 1972, the memory of Ram\u00f3n Fonst was already very distant, so many consider that the titles achieved in the German city mark a second turning point for the island in events under the five rings.<\/span><\/p>\n

That year, boxing began to earn the emblem of \u201cflagship\u201d with three scepters, the first of them on the chest of Orlandito Mart\u00ednez, that riposte artist. The left-hander from Juanelo, in the San Miguel del Padr\u00f3n neighborhood in the Cuban capital, was relentless in his second Olympic adventure, after being quickly eliminated in Mexico 1968.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Munich, Orlandito started off badly, because he was knocked down twice in his first fight against Burmese Win Maung, but he recovered and was unstoppable until the finals, in which he defeated Mexico\u2019s Alfonso Zamora. That same day, in the Games\u2019 decisive big names, Emilio Correa and Te\u00f3filo Stevenson also triumphed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Orlando
Orlando Mart\u00ednez (left) is declared the winner in one of his fights at the Munich Olympics. Photo: Taken from The Times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regarding that adventure, Orlandito said the following in an <\/span>interview<\/span><\/a> with Joel Garc\u00eda: \u201cThe truth is that I was not among any of the leaders\u2019 medal forecasts. Before leaving they told me: we\u2019re going to take you, but we know that you aren\u2019t going to win medals. And what\u2019s more, in all my fights I had a strong angina pectoris and was injecting myself. I came to recover a little in the discussion for the silver. The doctor was excellent and in the physical exams they did when each fight ended, he breathed softly so that they would not detect it and disqualify me. The only thing in my mind was that medal, that\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Montreal 1976<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cHere comes Juantorena with the heart….\u201d That phrase is engraved in the Cuban popular imagination and, each time it is mentioned, everyone travels to the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and encourages Alberto Juantorena to lengthen his stride and get the first gold medal in Cuban athletics in the history of the Olympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n

That 800-meter race is one of the most impressive in history, with an imperial Juantorena, to the point of lowering the world record to 1:43.50 minutes. He won the first Cuban title in Montreal on July 25, 1976, and if that was not enough, four days later, on July 29, he also won the 400-meter oval.<\/span><\/p>\n

Juantorena\u2019s performance in Montreal is worthy of study. Adding qualifying heats, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, the athlete from Santiago was in seven races in a span of six days.<\/span><\/p>\n