Erislandy Álvarez didn’t expect to be carrying the hopes of a proud boxing nation when he steps into the ring Wednesday night in an arena full of fans cheering for his opponent.
But that’s where Álvarez finds himself after a disappointing Paris Olympic tournament for Cuba.
The talented 24-year-old lightweight is the only boxer left with a chance to win a gold medal for Cuba, which has been one of the most successful teams in the sport for decades.
After securing four of Cuba’s seven victories in Paris, Álvarez will fight Sofiane Oumiha of France in the 63.5-kilogram final at Roland Garros. Regardless of the outcome, he will bring home one of only two Cuban medals — the country’s smallest medal count in 56 years.
“There is one left,” Álvarez said through an interpreter. “We are going to give it our all. This is the last one, and it is the most important.”
The U.S. team has won more boxing gold medals and total medals than Cuba, but the Americans’ medal count has dropped significantly over the past two decades while Cuba remained strong.
Cuba, with its many exceptional fighters who could only aim for the Olympics unless they defected, has produced a long list of dominant champions, including two of the three members of the boxing triple gold club: Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón.
However, this Olympic cycle has been tough for Cuba, which has struggled to adapt to gender equality in the sport and has faced challenges with talent development. The country will return home with its fewest medals since 1968, when it won only two in Mexico City.
Only five Cuban boxers qualified for Paris, including two-time gold medalists heavyweight Julio César La Cruz and middleweight Arlen López.
La Cruz lost his opening fight to a Cuban opponent now competing for Azerbaijan. López won a medal but lost his semifinal match to up-and-coming star Oleksandr Khyzhniak from Ukraine.
“It hasn’t been a positive cycle,” López said. “We could (only) manage two months of preparation outside of Cuba, but that’s how these events work.
We always want to be that beacon that shines on those behind us, but that’s sports. You win some, you lose some.” Cuba’s team in Paris is smaller because the Olympics have changed since Tokyo.
The IOC, which is managing the tournament through a task force, made big changes by adding many more women and removing more men to achieve gender balance. The 248 boxers in Paris make it the smallest group at the Games since 1956.
This situation affected Cuba, which was slow to adapt to the growth of women’s boxing. Cuba only lifted its internal ban on women’s competition in late 2022, and none of its women qualified for the Olympics.
Cuba has won gold medals in boxing all but once since 1968, with the only exception being the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Even though Cubans topped the medal table in Beijing with eight total medals, other countries are expected to match or surpass Cuba’s total in Paris — including the Dominican Republic, which had won only two boxing medals in its entire Olympic history before earning two more in Paris.
Cuba won two golds in London, three in Rio de Janeiro, and four in Tokyo. This progress has been halted in Paris.
