Julio César la Cruz remains our great champion

The reflections of our president Díaz-Canel sent to Julio César la Cruz, more like the embrace of a father to a son, are the continuation of Fidel's thoughts related to events such as these: "Our athletes should not only be applauded when they come with gold medals, they should be welcomed with brotherly affection, they should be welcomed the same way as if they obtain a victory... they are athletes who fight for the honor of our country, as they have done many times." (September 28, 2000)

The recognition of the first secretary of our Party —dialectical vision, feet on the ground, soul placed in the truth— about the winner of the bout, Loren Berto Alfonso from Pinar del Río, who expresses how much he owes to the Cuban Boxing School and to his native country, is also fair.

It was a very close bout between two rivals forged in this pugilistic creation that must adapt to the new times. The representative of the Greater Antilles gave his best as expected, although he was outclassed 3-2 according to the judges' opinion. He could have been declared the winner. This was not the case at the start of his attempt to repeat his crown. It was a question of tripling it, not defending it as some mistakenly say: no ace of the great event, even of any tournament, defends his title because it is already his and is linked to him eternally.

The motto of the Olympic competition states: "The important thing is not to win, but to compete," pronounced by the Archbishop of Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, on June 17, 1908, to the participants of the IV Games gathered in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The rescuer of the beautiful contest, Pierre de Coubertin, immediately adapted it to Olympism and motivated him to go deeper in doing so: "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the fight, the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well. To spread these ideas is to prepare a more valuable, stronger, more scrupulous and therefore more selfless humanity.”

Julio has always fought well and has gone far beyond showing this virtue within the boxing box: revolutionary, loving son, university student, he never stopped dedicating his successes to his people and to Fidel. He is one of the best Cuban boxers ever, great among the greatest sportsmen of his country. He will never stop being our beloved champion.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff