Mijaín López, Japan and Olympic wrestling on the Champs de Mars

Only a feat like that of Cuban Mijaín López, five-time Olympic champion, somewhat overshadows Japan's enormous performance in the Paris 2024 wrestling, enjoyed on the Champs de Mars grounds.

Beyond the recognition of the Olympic family for such heroism, the only athlete with five consecutive titles in the same event or modality, López earned enormous displays of sympathy from the French fans, who came to the Arena located within sight of the Eiffel Tower to see the giant from Herradura fight.

“I can’t believe it. “I can’t believe it. He’s huge, they can’t even move him. Unbelievable,” Brigit, a Belgian fan living in Paris, told us with great excitement. She came to enjoy Olympic wrestling.

“I couldn’t come to the judo, but I managed to be here for the wrestling, because my children like combat sports and I don’t regret it. I saw the big dark-skinned guy and I said to myself: Teddy Riner, it can’t be,” she said, bursting into laughter.

“You know, my big boy knew who he was and he said to me: Mom, he’s the best wrestler in the world, he’s like Teddy in judo (here I smile at such an exact analogy, coming from a nine-year-old boy), and we’re looking forward to his second fight,” she added.

“And what did you think?” I asked her.

“Great, I haven’t seen another one like him in the fights. I hope he passes by us when he fights again. We’re going to prepare a banner with his name on it,” she said.

Brigit was not the only one. Hundreds of fans enjoyed the fight of the Cuban wrestler who has already become a legend and applauded him to the point of delirium when he left his undefeated shoes on the mat, blessed by the Champs de Mars, as an immeasurable trophy for Olympic history.

And if Mijaín took the spotlight, the spectacular performance of the Japanese wrestlers cannot be ignored, who won eight of the 18 titles contested between both styles, Greco-Roman and freestyle (men and women).

Japanese gladiators notably surpassed the harvest achieved in the previous Tokyo 2020 event, when as hosts they led with seven medals: five gold, one silver and one bronze compared to eight, one and two on this occasion.

The women’s freestyle athletes stood out by taking to the podium in all six divisions of the Olympic programme, including the four titles won by Akari Fujinami, Tsugumi Sakurai, Sakura Motoki and Yuka Kagami, although the fall to bronze by Yui Susaki (50 kg), champion in Tokyo 2020, was painful.

By country, behind Japan was Iran with eight medals (2-4-2), the United States with seven (2-2-3), Bulgaria (2-0-0), Cuba (1-1-3), in a medal table where 26 nations won at least one bronze medal.