Communist Cuba’s state propaganda machine on Monday tried to justify a lackluster performance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where its athletes brought home nine medals – the same number won by Cuban exiles in total in competitions representing other countries.
Cuban athletes Winner In Paris, Cuba won nine medals, but only two of them were gold, placing the country in 23rd place overall in medals and tied for 32nd in gold medals. Observed It was Cuba’s lowest gold medal tally at a Summer Olympics since the 1968 Mexico City Games and its worst medal result since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when it won eight medals. Still, three of the medals were gold, a better result than in the tournament that ended Sunday.
In contrast, at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Cuba won 15 medals, including seven gold medals.
Communist Cuba invested heavily in athletics for decades as a form of global propaganda, using its champions to push its political agenda. But its athletics program suffered a major setback when dozens of athletes defected in search of a better life and real support for their work abroad. For Cuba, the Summer Olympics began with the defection of a high-profile defector, judoka Dayle Ojeda, who made waves even before the opening ceremony began. Ojeda was a Cuban coach who was a key figure in the Cuban capital, where the Olympics are being held. Selected Don’t go back to your lodgings in Paris.
Compounding the Cuban delegation’s disappointing performance in Paris was the extraordinary success of Cuban-born athletes in the exile community: Cuban journalists identified 21 Olympians who were born in Cuba but competed on other teams at the Olympics, including the unprecedented appearance of two Cuban athletes in the official Olympic record books. Refugee TeamThese athletes, as a whole, Winner Nine medals, the same as the entire Cuban delegation but only about one-third of Cuba’s Olympic team. This number includes only Cuban-born athletes, not Cuban-Americans or other ethnic Cubans, or athletes born in other countries who are part of the exile community.
The Cuban exile athletes had their brightest moment in the triple jump competition. Cleaned up All three medals were won by ski jumpers Jordan Diaz, who won gold for Spain, Pedro Pablo Picardo, who won silver for Portugal, and Andy Diaz, who won bronze for Italy. In another notable event, Cuban exile Loren Berto Alfonso of Azerbaijan defeat Cuban boxer Julio Cesar La Cruz was defeated early in the match, preventing him from taking home the gold medal in boxing, historically Cuba’s most successful sport, and La Cruz was its flag bearer at the opening ceremonies.
Gold medalist Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun (center) of Spain, silver medalist Pedro Picardo (left) of Portugal, and bronze medalist Andy Diaz Hernandez (right) of Italy celebrate after the men’s triple jump competition in Paris, France, on August 10, 2024. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The only highlight for Cuba was winning the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, which was won by Mijain Lopez, who has now won the event five times. The only athlete He needed to win his fifth consecutive gold medal and to do so he needed to beat another Cuban, Yasmani Acosta, who was competing for Chile.
Gold medalist Mijain Lopez Nunez of Cuba celebrates after the awards ceremony in the men’s Greco-Roman 130 kg wrestling event in Paris, France, on August 6, 2024. (Sarah Steer/Getty Images)
Lopez is an outspoken communist who dedicated his gold medal in Tokyo to the late Fidel Castro. But even he was embarrassed during the Olympics when his entourage was caught on camera peppering him with communist talking points during a propaganda call with titular “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel. The Tokyo Olympics came on the heels of nationwide protests against communism on July 11, 2021, pressuring officials to more visibly weaponize the athletes in an effort to quell Cuban people’s apparent rejection of their government.
Lopez in trouble in Paris Received He received a personal blessing from 93-year-old Cuban dictator Raul Castro. Grandmathanked him “for his outstanding sporting achievements and his loyalty to the revolution.”
Cuban delegation to the Paris Olympics Arrived He returned home on Monday in time for the birthday of the late dictator Fidel Castro on Tuesday, but was immediately greeted with Communist propaganda.
“Inspired by Fidel, you defended the values of Cuban sport and competed with dignity,” Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo de Lella told the athletes as they arrived in Havana, according to the Communist Party’s newspaper. Grandma.
GrandmaThe writers of the article The team acknowledged Monday that it was their worst performance at the Olympics in the past 52 years.
“We are not going to fall for the little media games of degrading our national sports movement and creating an unnatural opinion among the people,” the paper declared, but acknowledged that “better preparations are needed, as well as the devising of a comprehensive strategy with athletes at its core.”
Grandma The Cuban government complained that Cuba’s poor performance was due to being “hard-lined and suffocated by the list of state sponsors of terror,” referring to the nearly non-existent U.S. “embargo” on Cuba and the Cuban government’s rightful place on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terror, which it earned through its close ties to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The government did not specify how perceived political ties to terrorists affect the Cuban government’s ability to develop talented athletes.
