Caribbean Sports Ambassadors

Future Transformation
References

Cuba

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean at 42,803 square miles. It is located 90 miles north of Jamaica and 90 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida. Cuba has a population of approximately 11.2 million people making it the 82nd most populous country in the world. The official language of Cuba is Spanish.

Cuba's first participation in the Summer Olympics was in 1900 and it has participated in 20 out of 28 Games since then. Cuba has won a total of 226 medals consisting 78 gold medals, 68 silver medals and 80 bronze medals. All medals were won over 15 different sports. Cuba won most of its medals in Boxing, totaling 73. These 73 medals consisted of 37 gold medals, 19 silver medals, 17 bronze medals.

Brief History of Boxing in Cuba

Professional box was banned in Cuba by Fidel Castro in 1959. This was done to prevent the exploitation of man by man and the corruption normally associated with the sport. Before this happened, Cuba had a number of professional boxers including the famous Kid Chocolate.

Because of this ban most boxers in Cuba are amateur but still dominates the sport at the Olympic Games. Cuba has won 32 of the 104 gold medals issued for boxing at the Olympic Games. They managed to achieve this even thought they boycotted the 1984 and 1988 games.

Participation Past 20 Years

Rio 2016 Summer Olympics

Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Boxing
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Fencing
Gymnastics
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Shooting
Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling

London 2012 Summer Olypics

Archery
Athletics
Boxing
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Diving
Judo
Rowing
Shooting
Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

Archery
Athletics
Baseball
Boxing
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Diving
Fencing
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Shooting
Swimming
Taekwondo
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Athens 2004 Summer Olympics

Archery
Athletics
Baseball
Boxing
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Diving
Fencing
Gymnastics
Judo
Rowing
Shooting
Swimming
Taekwondo
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics

Athletics
Baseball
Boxing
Canoe & Kayak
Cycling
Diving
Fencing
Judo
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Synchronized Swimming
Taekwondo
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Best and Worst Performance

Cuba's best performance at the Summer Olympics was at the Sydney 2000 Games

11 Gold medals
11 Silver medals
7 Bronze medals
Rank 9

Cuba's worst performance at the Summer Olympics was at the Rio 2016 Games

5 Gold medals
2 Silver medals
4 Bronze medals
Rank 18

Featured Individual (Retired)

Felix Savón

Felix Savon is a Cuban heavyweight boxer who is the second fighter to win three Olympic gold medals in the same weight class and the first to capture six world amateur boxing titles.

Savon came on the world scene when he won the heavyweight title at the World Junior Championships in 1985. He then won the World Championship a year later and repeated this 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997. He made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Games, where he won a gold medal. He then went on to win gold at the 1996 and 200 Olympics.

Savon turned down many offers to box professionally and had to retire in 2001 because of an International Amatuer Boxing Association rule that prohibited amateurs from competing over 34 years old. he then went on to become the coah of the Cuban national team, which won 5 gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Featured Individual Currently Excelling

Julio César La Cruz

Julio Cesar is a Cuban amateur boxer with a 21-3 record in the World Series of Boxing. In 2011 and 2013 he was selected as the best boxer on the continent by the American Boxing Confederation.

He won a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in 2011. In the same year he won a gold medal at the Pan American Games. In the same year he was selected as the sportsman of the year in Cuba. Recently in December 2019 he won the gold medal at the Playa Giron Boxing Tournament.