Cuban Wrestler Mijaín López Retires in Cool Fashion After Fifth Straight Gold Medal

Patrick Andres | Aug 6, 2024

Aug 5, 2024; Paris, France; Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba) during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Champ-de-Mars Arena. / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

Along with baseball and boxing, wrestling is Cuba's bread and butter when it comes to the Summer Olympics—and no wrestler in the island nation has ever been better than Greco-Roman grappler Mijain Lopez.

Lopez, 41, entered the Paris Olympics with gold medals in four consecutive Olympics. He won gold in the 120-kilogram weight class in Beijing in 2008, gold in the same class in London in 2012, gold in the 130-kilogram class in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and gold in that class in Tokyo in 2021.

On Tuesday, he made it an even five gold medals in the super heavyweight class—besting Chile's Yasmani Acosta 6–0 in Paris.

After the bout, the icon left his shoes on the mat—signaling his retirement from wrestling.

5 straight Olympic gold medals for Cuban superheavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López. Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo, Paris. Never been done before in an individual Olympic event, summer or winter, men's or women's.
And he leaves his shoes on the mat to signal his retirement pic.twitter.com/4DdhfOHIxk

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) August 6, 2024

Lopez, an all-time great in his sport, has carried the flag at the Olympic opening ceremony four times for his country. Outside of Olympic competition, he has eight medals (five gold) in the world championships and five (all gold) in the Pan American Games.