VIDEO. Fight at the Paris 2024 Olympics: Cuban Mijain Lopez welcomed as a hero to the country after his fifth consecutive gold medal

Tens of thousands of Cubans were present to celebrate with music in the middle of the night the Cuban athletes, including their hero the wrestler Mijain Lopez, on the Malecon, the famous avenue of the seafront in Havana, to the sounds of a salsa orchestra.

The bus carrying the Cuban athletes who participated in the Olympic Games, which ended Sunday in Paris, arrived at midnight Monday (6:00 a.m. French time Tuesday) at La Piragua, a park located along one of the most famous avenues in the world.

“We are happy to arrive here […] happy for the welcome, since we got off the plane it's something incredible", said the legendary wrestler, who climbed onto the stage with his two children.

Five consecutive gold medals in the same individual event

Mijain Lopez entered the legend of the Olympic Games by becoming last Tuesday in Paris, at the age of 41, the first athlete to win five consecutive gold medals in the same individual event in Greco-Roman wrestling.

A little earlier in the evening, The Cuban Olympic delegation, which included its other gold medallist, boxer Erlislandy Álvarez, was greeted as soon as it got off the plane by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Mijain Lopez by his mother, who gave her colossus of a son a long hug.

Cuba, represented in Paris by 61 athletes in 16 sports, won nine medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 6 bronze) at the Paris Games, its lowest total since the Munich Games in 1972.