One of the top stars of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Cuban wrestler Mijaín López, will make his debut today in pursuit of his fifth crown under the five rings.

The living legend of Greco-Roman wrestling has gone more than 20 years without losing on an Olympic stage and almost four without officially competing, but in the up to 130kg division his opponent is himself.

With that in mind, the rest of the competitors will go out, especially South Korea’s Seungchan Lee, who will be the first to face the Antillean giant.

Much more difficult will be his next fight, where he will have to face the reigning world champion, Iranian Amin Mirzazadeh, who starts as favourite against American Adam Jacob Coon.

Latin America could have a good day in this competition because the Chilean Yasmani Acosta, also of Cuban origin, is on the other side of the table and should advance after his debut against the Bulgarian Kiril Milov.

In the other Greco division (60 kg) on Monday will be the Venezuelan Raiber José Rodríguez and the Cuban Kevin de Armas, but they will have difficult obstacles from their first outing, the Azeri Murad Mammadov and the Japanese Kenichiro Fumita, respectively.

In the women’s division, Venezuela’s Soleymi Caraballo will compete at 68 kilos, but she will also have a difficult start against Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki.

All three divisions will hold their bouts until the semi-finals only, as the medals will be contested on Tuesday.