Mijaín Lopez at the Paris Olympics 2024

For those that didn't hear about this, Mijaín Lopez of Cuba won the Olympic Gold Medal at the 130 kilograms category in Olympic Greco Roman Wrestling! This achievement is especially significant as he becomes the ONLY athlete to ever win 5 Olympic gold medals in any one singular event! 

People might think that this has happened before. Examples that could come to mind are Michael Phelps in swimming and Usain Bolt in track and field sprinting. Michael Phelps is one of the most successful Olympians ever and he did set the record for the most Olympic gold medals in an Olympic Games with 8 during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, however, this was done across several different events in swimming. The same can be said about Usain Bolt as he dominated the short distance events of track field for nearly a decade, achieving 8 Olympic gold medals across three different sprinting events during three Olympics that he competed in! But none of them were able to win the same event on 5 different occasions at the Olympic Games!

Another cool fact about Lopez's achievement is that he defeated his long time friend and training partner in the Olympic finals, who transferred to the country of Chile as he couldn't make the Olympic team for Cuba with Lopez being so dominant and successful in his weight class!

Congrats to Mijaín Lopez on an outstanding achievement and career! Truly in a class of his own!