The Olympics Blog » Cuba

Angel Matos: The UnOlympian

bill — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Ban this guy. There’s no excuse for this kind of stupid and unsportsmanlike behavior.

Cuba’s Angel Matos deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend he be banned for life.

“We didn’t expect anything like what you have witnessed to occur,” said WTF secretary general Yang Jin-suk. “I am at a loss for words.”

Yang also recommended Matos’ coach be banned.

Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 left in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. Matos was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden, who will require stitches in his lip. Matos spat on the floor and was escorted out.

“This is an insult to the Olympic vision, an insult to the spirit of taekwondo and, in my opinion, an insult to mankind,” Yang said.

Hurdles: Dayron Robles vs. Liu Xiang II

bill — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles may be rivals in the track but they’re great pals outside of it. The top photo shows Liu consoling Dayron when the latter was eliminated during the World Indoor Championships last March 2008.

PHOTO SOURCE: IAAF

Hurdles: Dayron Robles vs. Liu Xiang

bill — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:24:00 +0000

Oh boy. Seems like an Olympic gold for Liu Xiang in the Beijing Games isn’t a sure thing after all. Who could grab the gold from him? Cuban Dayron Robles who just set a new world record in the 110 meter hurdles.

From the AP:

Dayron Robles of Cuba has set a world record in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking 12.87 seconds at the Golden Spike meet.

The 21-year-old Robles was 0.01 seconds faster than the previous mark, set by China’s Liu Xiang in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2006.

Terrence Trammell of the United States was second in Thursday’s race, in 13.21 seconds, followed by Ukraine’s Sergey Demidyuk in 13.42.

This is going to be a very interesting race. Go, Liu.

PHOTO SOURCE: BBC

Missing in Action: Cuba’s Yurisel Laborde

bill — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:20:00 +0000

Did she defect to the United States? Or did something bad happen to her that we still don’t know about? Yurisel Laborde is a Cuban judoka who won a bronze medal during the 2004 Olympics in Athens. She also boasts of two Judo World Championships gold medals which she bagged in 2005 and 2007.

After winning a gold medal during the 2008 Pan American Judo Championships in Miami last week, Yurisel disappeared. Pretty mysterious, eh?

Maybe the “family-style atmosphere” within Cuba’s sports program which we blogged about earlier, isn’t as enticing as the greener pastures of the good old US of A?

Niceness Wins Olympic Medals?

bill — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:24:00 +0000

Want to win an Olympic medal? Be cooperative rather than competitive. Don’t take my word for it. Take the words of sports psychologist Susan Butt who believes that Cuba’s remarkable achievements in the Olympics could be traced to its emphasis on “reinforcing feelings of competence and co-operation in athletes” rather than “promoting aggression and competition”.

From UBC Public Affairs:

While some degree of aggression and competition is highly desirable in an athlete, Butt feels they receive far too much emphasis.

“If an athlete is to have the greatest chance of fulfilling their potential, they are best served by feelings of co-operation and competence. In North America, many coaches would like to see their athletes be more aggressive and competitive, and I’ve long argued against that,” she says.

Butt says her theories are often misunderstood: “I’m not against having a contest, but there are better ways of approaching competition,” she says. “We often waste our elite athletes. We throw them into the dustbin when their careers are over.”

The Cubans, in contrast, build a family-style atmosphere within their sports programs. Loyalty and trust are emphasized and athletes maintain good relations with the team years after they have finished their careers, she says.

Read the full article here. I must say that Susan’s got an intriguing theory. Maybe she’s right. What do you think? Maybe all that talk about nice guys finishing last is just a lot of bull?