LOPEZ CUBA'S LOTUS : WRESTLING WORLD HONOURS

Lopez calls for Cuban sport to '' open up '' to the world. This Cuban Olympic hero says change is needed to bring back the lost glory of the nation's sport.

Legendary Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez, the only athlete to have won consecutive individual Olympic golds, called recently for the Cuban sport to '' open up '' to the world to recover its lost glory.

In an interview with AFP in Sao Paulo, Lopez, 43 said sport on the communist-run island '' was going through a very different time '' and needed to embrace sponsorship to retain talent.

'' I think we need to open up sports in Cuba,'' he said to the COB Expo, a fair organized by the Brazilian Committee.

'' There needs to be a change,'' Lopez said, in unusually candid remarks for a Cuban athlete.

'' International sport is a business. In sports, there are sponsors .......... and that development hasn't reached Cuba.''

Asked if there was a need to Professionalize Cuban sport, he said : '' Yes, I think so.''

He added that the start of a new Olympic cycle made it important to implement changes '' soon.''

Team Cuba in decline : A TRADITIONAL powerhouse of Latin American sport, Cuba fared poorly at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It's tally of two gold medals, one silver, and six bronze medals was its lowest since its return to the  athletics extravaganza in Barcelona in 1992, after boycotting the Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 games.

Barcelona was where Team Cuba peaked, bringing home 14 gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals.

The World Students Society thanks AFP.