Olympic Games: Shipwreck of the Cuban sports nation

Erislandy Álvarez is the name of the man who defended the honor of Cuban boxing. On Wednesday evening, Álvarez won the first gold medal for the Cuban boxing relay, which is often referred to as the “unsinkable ship” of the Cuban Olympic delegation. Why? Because the boxing relay has always been good for several medals in the Caribbean island’s extremely successful sporting history. Just three years ago in Tokyo, the boxing relay team ensured a good “medal harvest,” as they like to say in Cuba, with four of a total of seven gold medals.

But those times are over and there are many reasons for that: One is the changed regulations, which have ensured that this time the Cuban relay team only has five pugilists instead of the previous eleven. Another is the fact that Cuban coaches also work in other countries and have made them successful – like Pedro Roque in Azerbaijan. Loren Berto Alfonso, a model athlete who emigrated from Cuba, is also competing for the country. Alfonso met his former training partner Julio César la Cruz, a double Olympic champion, in the ring in Paris and defeated the Cuban medal candidate.

Sporty “brain drain”

The duel between the two heavyweights is not the only one between Cuban athletes who compete under different flags. In total, at least 21 Cubans are starting in Paris for other nations. Three of them this Friday in the men’s triple jump final. The trio is led by Pedro Pablo Pichardo, the favorite and defending champion in Tokyo in the Portuguese jersey. In the final he will face European champion Jordan Alejandro Díaz, who is competing under the Spanish flag, and Andy Díaz in the Italian jersey. Only the fourth Cuban triple jumper in the group, Lazaro Martinez, starts the competition under the flag of his country of birth.

Bitter realities from a Cuban perspective, but at the same time a reflection of the conditions in the Caribbean country, which have been characterized by emigration for years. According to Cuban sports officials, one reason is the poaching of talent, the so-called “brain drain”. The island’s existential economic crisis is another. The third is the fact that sport and its promotion have no longer been at the top of the political agenda since around 2006. At that time, Cuba’s biggest sports fan, Fidel Castro, resigned from political office due to illness. Under his brother Raúl, the promotion of athletes from the island declined noticeably. The athletes who had previously been labeled as “ambassadors of the nation” were less well cared for and supported.

Decline in athlete funding

The same applies to the sports facilities on the island, says Iván García, Cuban journalist and sports fan: “An example of this is the Estadio Panamericano. Today it’s more or less a ruin.” Not an isolated case on the island, but the sports facility just outside Havana, in the Alamar district, was something like the home of the athletics team. The island’s sports stars, from high jump icon Javier Sotomayor to 110-meter hurdles Olympic champion Dayron Robles to long jumper Iván Pedroso, trained there.

The latter, after all the long jump Olympic champion in Sydney, now works as a coach in Spain and, alongside Jordan Alejandro Díaz, also trains numerous other long jump athletes in the performance center in Guadalajara. Extremely successful – just no longer under the Cuban flag.

For the first time in Paris, the decline in Cuban sports funding is having a lasting impact on the medal harvest. It is likely to be significantly tighter than in Tokyo. The delegation of athletes who were allowed to travel to Paris, at 62, is also the smallest since 1964. The official goal of at least five gold medals is unlikely to be achieved. And the exodus continues: During the games, two other athletes, Dayle Ojeda and Yariulvis Cobas, turned their backs on Cuba. They broke away from their delegation.