Wrestling legend Lopez calls for Cuban sport to 'open up' to the world | Sports

SAO PAULO, Sept 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Legendary Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez, the only athlete to have won five consecutive individual Olympic golds, called Thursday for Cuban sport to "open up" to the world to help it recover its lost glory. In an interview with AFP in Sao Paulo, Lopez, 43, said sport on the communist-run island was "going through a very difficult time" and needed to embrace sponsorship to retain talent. "International sport is a business. In sports, there are sponsors...and that development hasn't reached Cuba," Lopez said at the COB Expo, a fair organized by the Brazilian Olympic Committee. "There needs to be a change," he said, in unusually candid remarks for a Cuban athlete. A traditional powerhouse...