Greco-Roman
Mijaín López
Mijaín López won Olympic Greco-Roman gold in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024, five in a row, at the heaviest weight. No other wrestler has done that. In Paris, after the last one, he left his shoes in the centre of the circle. The gesture was the retirement. It did not need a caption, though it received hundreds.
The division he vacated is the subject. The portrait on this page is an editorial likeness, not a frame from Paris.
Five golds is the fact. What a country does after a fact like that is the open question, and it is not one this biography is going to pretend to close.
Career highlights
- Olympic gold 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024
- Five Olympic Greco-Roman titles at heavyweight
- Retired after Paris, shoes left on the mat