Cubans do not have to be sports fans to be familiar with the names of athletes like Félix Savón, Ana Fidelia Quirot, María Caridad Colón, Casimiro Suárez, Lourdes Medina, Adolfo Horta, Ángel Espinosa and Juan Carlos Lemus.
One year and three months after Russian invaded Ukraine, with no end in sight, and a little more than a year separating us from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, at which the four-time Greco-Roman wrestling champion Mijaín López aspires to be crowned again, the names of those Cuban athletes come to mind for one reason: the regime kept them, at least once, from realizing their Olympic dreams, for political reasons.
Many will be surprised to see on that list the 400 and 800 meter world champion Ana Fidelia Quirot, a bronze medalist in Barcelona 1992 and a silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996. The runner nicknamed "The Caribbean Storm" won her two Olympic medals in the 800-meter event, but in 1988, when the Cuban regime headed by Fidel Castro decided not to attend the Olympic Games in Seoul in solidarity with the North Korean regime, she was considered the heavy favorite to win both the 400-meter and 800-meter races.
Why does the six-time world champion and three-time Olympic boxing champion Felix Savon appear on this list? Could he have won four Olympic medals instead of three? The man who uttered the famous and unfortunate phrase "Technique is technique and without technique there is no technique" won his first world title in 1986, at the age of 19, two years before the Seoul Olympics. Would he have made the podium in what would have been his first Olympic Games? Yes, he probably would have, but we'll never know for sure.
Another fighter who may have won an Olympic medal in Seoul is Juan Carlos Lemus, champion at the 1987 and 1991 Pan American Games, among other accolades. While competing in the youth category, he dominated the ring in Bulgaria, at the International Schwerin Tournament in the then German Democratic Republic, and the Feliks Stamm International Boxing Tournament in Poland. In 1986, he won 16 fights and lost only 3, but he had to wait until Barcelona 1992 to win his first and only Olympic title. Could he have won two in his career? We can't say for sure.
We can be sure, however, that "total boxer" Adolfo Horta, winner of three gold medals at the World Championships in 1978, 1982 and 1986, was a strong candidate for medals, including gold, at the Olympic Games that Cuba did not attend. In Moscow 1980, at the age of 22, he had to settle for the silver after being defeated in the finals by East German fighter Rudi Fink. Castro's decision to join the socialist bloc's boycott of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, and to show solidarity with North Korea in 1988, deprived Horta of the chance to compete in the Olympic Games again.
Southpaw Angel Espinosa was another boxer who most likely would have reached the Olympic podium, and probably a title, at least in Seoul. The champion in that tournament was West Germany’s Henry Maske, whom the Cuban had defeated three times in unanimous decisions. Espinosa made his first and only Olympic appearance in Barcelona 1992, but his career had already peaked.
Although not at the peak of her sporting career, Espinosa at least made it to one Olympic Games, unlike Pan American rhythmic gymnastics champion Lourdes Medina. Her case is perhaps the saddest among those athletes whom Castro prevented from competing in the Olympics. The best Cuban athlete of all time in this discipline earned her ticket to the summer events at the World Championships of 1983, 1987 and 1991.
The regime prevented her from attending the Los Angeles Games in 1984, and the Seoul Games in 1988, out of solidarity with its political allies. In 1992, when the athlete was already 24 years old, and had the last chance to go to the Olympics in a discipline in which female athletes usually start and retire early, the leadership of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) decided that she could not place among the top six, and decided not to take her to Barcelona.
Another gymnast, Pan American and Central American Games champion and multiple medalist Casimiro Suárez, was only able to compete in the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980, where he placed sixth on the horizontal bar. By then, he had been on the national team for three years, where he remained for 14. Seven elements of the International Gymnastics Federation’s scoring code bear the name of the Cuban gymnast, who retired in 1991, after the Pan American Games in Havana and one year before Barcelona 1992.
Another case worth mentioning is that of María Caridad Colón, the first female Olympic champion, not only in Cuba but also in Latin America, who was crowned in Moscow in 1980, at the age of 22, and was unable to defend her title at the two subsequent summer events.
Nearly four decades have passed, and some people may find it unlikely that the scenario will repeat itself, especially since the International Olympic Committee (IOC), despite criticism, seems increasingly inclined to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the next Olympics. This is, apparently, different from accepting participation by Russia and Belarus.
At the Tokyo 2020 Games, although Russian athletes represented the Russian Olympic Committee and did not compete under the flag of their country, its colors were clearly visible in the stands at the summer event.
As journalist Jens Krepela recalls, several of the athletes who took part in the event in the Japanese capital later agreed to collaborate to spread Putin's propaganda, at a time when the Russian president had not yet invaded Ukraine.
Will the IOC ultimately allow Russian athletes to participate in Paris 2024? Will it depend on how the war unfolds, and will Putin be satisfied with his athletes participating without the Russian flag?
What will the "president of continuity" do in the absence of Russian athletes in Paris due to an IOC decision?
In 1984 and 1988 Cuban athletes put up with Fidel Castro's decisions. Most of them —we have not mentioned all the athletes who lost the chance to compete in the Olympics— remained on the island, or took years to emigrate. Several of them were supporters of the regime, to which they even felt indebted. Many of them retained the attitude that an athlete was a soldier of the Revolution.
A decision by Díaz-Canel similar to those of Fidel, however, would only aggravate the stampede that began in Cuban sports some time ago. In fact, the question is how many athletes the regime will have left by 2024.