Cuba and its goals in the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games

Havana, February 21.- Cuba will compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the aim of placing among the first 20 and 25 participating countries, respectively, it was reported on the Round Table radio and television program.

José Antonio Miranda, general director of High Performance of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), referred to the real possibilities of the Cuban delegations to these multi-sport events, scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, and from August 28 to September 8, in that order.

Miranda argued on the subject taking into account the endorsement of those already classified and those who are about to get tickets, as well as the results of the athletes of the largest of the Antilles in first level tournaments and the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile and Central American and Caribbean of San Salvador, in both cases in 2023.

He indicated that with these performances Cuba will guarantee to maintain or surpass what was achieved in the previous editions of Tokyo 2020, in which 14th places were occupied, with seven gold medals, three silver and five bronze medals, and 35th (4-1- 1), respectively.

The manager commented that a broad preselection has been formed for the Olympics, whose preparation takes place in a short cycle.

“Starting next month we must begin to reduce it, since the possible lists must be delivered to the Organizing Committee. So far we are working with 262 athletes, of which 94 have already participated in this type of Games.”

In this regard, he added that 64 percent of that preselection would be competing for the first time under the five rings.

Cuba will go with a delegation involved in a more accelerated preparation, and added “that it has had to assume commitments that were our responsibility in this cycle itself, as happened in the Central American and Caribbean and Pan American Games, where we evaluated this transit of the reserve as positive.”

He also indicated that the average age of the preselection is 24 years, with all the provinces represented in it and only 48 percent of the municipalities.

The largest of the Antilles officially has 20 athletes for Paris 2024, and expressed that in diving there are two real possibilities - Anisley García and Prisis Leidys Ruiz - that will not be confirmed until the end of May or June because now there is a review of the results. rankings.

He noted that those classified so far are athletics, boxing, canoeing, cycling, modern pentathlon, wrestling, table tennis and shooting sports.

The qualification route began in 2023. “In the Pan American Games, 116 sports had their classification and we achieved six places. In this classification route we have 16 sports, of which seven are by ranking, such as athletics, gymnastics, judo, weightlifting, swimming, taekwondo and triathlon.”

"We are working with the Volleyball Federation to achieve this sport's pass as the only one among the groups that could attend in Cuba. “Their access to Paris depends on their place in the League of Nations, which is not an easy task.”

Another discipline that aspires to increase its quota is athletics, with 26 classified. In the case of shooting, eight more places are expected.

Miranda insisted that there is a group of sports that are pillars for the Games, concentrated in six disciplines. “We have not stopped caring for others, it is important to clarify that, and we insist that we have 17 sports on the qualification route.”

He assured that they intend to reach 20 sports classified for the Games, since in Tokyo it was only achieved in 15. "What we want above all is to achieve high efficiency."

Miranda explained: “We do not have exclusion criteria. However, circumstances force us to have to prioritize, within all these sports, those athletes with possibilities of a result within the multidisciplinary games. We have been doing it within this cycle and it has given us results: 17 athletes in the case of the Olympic Games and 12 athletes in the case of the Paralympic Games for a total of 29.”

Oscar Nuevo Reyes, methodological technical director of high performance, also participated in the Cuban television program, who when referring to the particularities of preparation for multi-sport games, said that this short cycle was preceded by a longer one and that has repercussions directly on the longevity of the preselections.

Regarding the results obtained in Tokyo 2020, in which a total of 69 athletes participated, he recalled that 25 of them were in the finals, for 36.2 percent of the effectiveness. “Of those 25, 15 won medals, for a 60 percent effectiveness rate and with seven gold medals, three silver and five bronze medals.”

Regarding the current Olympic cycle, he expressed that it has the particularity that it was only three years and also with 2023 with an atypical competitive participation, in which two multidisciplinary games were held together with the Alba Games.

Nuevo warned about the change in the global sports landscape. "In Tokyo, 65 countries won titles, 11 more than in Rio 2016. In addition, 93 nations won medals, more countries than the previous event."

He explained that in Tokyo Cuba had an effectiveness of athletes against titles of 10.1, a value that is considered positive, and 21.7 of the total medals. “Although we say that the average age of the preselection is 24 years, the average of the medalists in Tokyo was 32 years. Therefore, those who remain in Paris are on average 35 years old.”

"For various reasons, many of the athletes who could continue are not in the Cuban sports movement today and that caused us to have to accelerate the preparation of the entire reserve."

“An example of this was the Cuban participation during the year 2023. In Chile, of the 361 athletes who competed, 222 were going to the Pan American Games for the first time (61.4 percent of the delegation). However, of the 109 medals obtained from 82 athletes, 43 attended the Pan American Games for the first time. Of the 30 titles achieved, 15 were achieved by athletes who attended this type of competition for the first time.”

Among the main Cuban figures, Oscar Nuevo Reyes highlighted the boxers Julio César la Cruz and Arlen López, the shooter Leuris Pupo, the wrestlers Mijaín López and Luis Alberto Orta, the judoka Idalys Ortiz, the canoeist Yarisleidis Cirilo, and the athletes Leyanis Pérez and Lázaro Martínez.

Also present was M. Sc Jorge Reinaldo Palma Montalvo, technical head of the Department of Sports for People with Disabilities, who regarding the Paralympic Games pointed out that Cuba will be about to repeat the four gold medals from Tokyo 2020, a performance that will equal the number of titles and surpass the total number of medals.

In the Japanese capital, four crowns were obtained, one silver and one bronze, with 35th place. However, now the Island aspires to be in 25th place at the Paris event.

The manager pointed out that based on what was seen in Tokyo, a development strategy was drawn up designed to seek a greater number of athletes with potential.

“As part of its objectives we have the development of team sports, as well as the increase in the presence of athletes with other types of disabilities, such as those of short stature or those who have some type of intellectual limitation. “We also took on the task of adding more women and achieving greater specialization in our athletes,” he noted.

He added that this new projection has borne fruit. An example of this is the growth in the number of medals seen in the last Parapan American Games.

He praised how it was possible to bring together Cuban athletes in national schools a month before that tournament, something unusual in sports for the disabled, which is developed mainly with bases in the provinces.

“This practice demonstrated its validity to us and since January the preselection of 39 athletes with options to participate in the Paris event is concentrated again, which allows us much greater attention, not only competitively, but also methodologically. In addition, we managed to establish an international critical path with enough competitions to seek qualifications and two training bases abroad,” he assured.

So far Cuba has five athletes classified in table tennis, shooting and athletics, he explained, and that the preselection has an average age of 31 years and 10 sports are represented.

“The main figure is once again Omar Durand, accompanied by Yankiel Sol, two Paralympic title holders and world record holders. Our goal is to have a delegation of 25 representatives, nine more than in Tokyo 2020,” he concluded. (ACN) (Photo: Taken from the Internet)