08:45 am
Controlympics: What Happened to Cuba?
Has anyone noticed the decline of Cuba as an Olympic power?
Communist countries have long used a factory system to create large numbers of successful Olympic athletes: identify young people who are athletically gifted, force them to learn a particular sport, and ruthlessly cull until you identify as many Olympic champions as possible. Cuba was perhaps the best example of a small country using the system to its advantage.
This is what Fidel Castro once said about the Cuban Olympic program:
What has Cuba’s role been in the Olympic Games? What has it achieved? What has been the fruit of our efforts to promote healthy clean sports? At the 1972 Olympics, we finished 14th among 122 countries. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976. . . we finished 8th among 88 participating countries. In 1980, in Moscow we finished 4th among 81 countries; in 1992, in Spain we finished 5th among 169 countries; and in Atlanta, in 1996 we finished 8th among 197 countries. Could anyone refuse these figures?
The Cubans boycotted the 1984 and 1988 games, which is why Castro does not mention those years. So given their history, I wondered what they’ve been doing this time around:
Cuba’s Angel Matos deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend Matos be banned for life. Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 left in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. Matos was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. . . . Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden, who required stitches in his lip. Matos spat on the floor and was escorted out.
You can find the photo of Matos kicking the referee’s face here.
In fairness to Cuba, this could have been an athlete from any country. But it’s clear that we’ve not seen Cuban athletes play a prominent role this time around. Certainly no superstars like Alberto Juantorena or Teofilo Stevenson. So I wanted to see where they were in the medal count compared to past years:
The 2008 figures are through last night (Saturday). If you use the Chinese (gold medals count) system, the Cubans are tied for 27th out of 79 countries that have won medals. If you use the American (total medals) system, they are ranked 12th.
What strikes me here is that while the total number of medals is not that far off their previous average, the number of golds is down significantly. Their only two champions are Mijain Lopez in the 120 kg men’s Greco-Roman wrestling and Dayron Robles in the men’s 110m hurdles.
Cuba has suffered from a large number of defections over the past sixteen years, so that may be part of the what’s happened. But I think it’s something deeper than that. With Fidel’s decline, has sports become less important? What are the official government organs making of this?
Something tells me that Fidel isn’t going to be bragging about these numbers.
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