Lopez Grapples With History In Quest For Fifth Olympic Gold

In the history of the modern Olympic Games, dating all the way back to 1896, only one athlete, Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust, has managed to win five golds in five successive Games

Havana, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Mar, 2024) In the history of the modern Olympic Games, dating all the way back to 1896, only one athlete, Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust, has managed to win five golds in five successive Games.

Cuban wrestler, Mijain Lopez, however, is looking to match her achievement when he lands in Paris in the summer for what will be his sixth Games, even though he has not competed for over two years.

"I'm going to do it," the ever-confident Lopez told AFP.

"The fatigue is there, the body aches are there, so the mind has to be strong, the motivation has to be even stronger," he said, dripping with perspiration after an intense three-hour training session on the mats at the Cerro Pelado high-performance centre in Havana.

If the perspiration and the inspiration do the job in Paris, the 1.98m (6ft 5in) Greco-Roman wrestler will move ahead of such luminaries as the Americans Carl Lewis (long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming, 200m medley) and Al Oerter (discus), Denmark's Paul Elvstrom (sailing) and Japan's Kaori Icho (wrestling), all of whom won individual gold in four different editions of the Games.