Erick López Ríos

Gymnast. First Latin American medalist in Men's Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. Winner of 18 gold medals in Pan American Games. Now a newly discovered relationship with sports commentary keeps the former gymnast highly motivated, fascinated by a world that until now was unknown to him.

He was born in Ciudad de la Habana. Although he came from a family of athletes, none had been involved with Gymnastics before. He was the youngest of seven siblings and all were linked in some way to physical exercise.

Through selections made at his primary school he began in the specialty and at only 6 years old he started training at the Gymnastics Academy, located in the Central Habana municipality of the capital. At 10 years old he entered the National Gymnastics School, also in Ciudad de La Habana, and by age 13 he made his international debut.

At the end of 1987 he was included in the national pre-selection. Despite not having the appropriate somatotype, especially regarding height compared to other Cuban gymnasts of the previous generation with notable results such as Roberto León Richard and Casimiro Suárez, this was not an impediment.

In 1989, he attended his first major competition, the World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany, as a member of the national team. The constant renewal of gymnastics on the island came at the beginning of the 1990s.

He attended the Central American and Caribbean Games in Ciudad de México, where he obtained a gold medal in pommel horse and finished with a silver medal in the all-around or maximum accumulator, behind the local Telesforo Pineda.

At the 1993 Ponce Central Americans he obtains first place in the sum of the apparatus and proclaimed himself king of the games.

Before turning 17 he made his debut at the Pan American Games in La Habana in August 1991, where he achieved his first major results. He was practically unknown, but from that moment on he began an incredible rise to the podium in those competitions, obtaining the gold medal as maximum accumulator, that is, the sum of performances on each of the six apparatus, plus first places in two other categories: vault and parallel bars.

From then on, the Cuban wrote an ode to virtuosity that did not stop until Santo Domingo 2003, with four consecutive titles as the most complete gymnast.

At the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, he arrived with an injury that could hinder his aspirations to reign once more, but his iron will and technical-artistic perfection did not prevent him from winning the all-around, pommel horse and parallel bars to lead the Cuban team, which achieved two more gold medals through Damián Meriño in floor exercise and rings.

At the 1988 Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo, he led the squad that in total won eight gold medals, four silver and four bronze. At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games he once again confirmed his completeness, finishing with a bronze medal as maximum accumulator.

He participated in the third Pan American Games in Winnipeg 1999. Weeks before, the stellar gymnast had not recovered from lymphangitis, so there was great uncertainty about whether he would participate in the Canadian multi-event competition. Only he and his coach, Ernesto Izaguirre, were convinced that he could defend the crown and maintain continental supremacy.

Days before departure, he had to stop training, as the infection in one of his toes had become more complicated than expected. But the decision was made that he could go and confidence was placed in him, so he competed with his life more than with technique. During the three days of competition, the Cuban excelled on the mat. He won gold medals in rings, parallel bars, pommel horse and all-around, plus contributed to Cuba's first place by team and as if that were not enough, he took second place in high bar. Obviously, he could barely compete in floor exercise and vault, exercises where he had to rely more on his legs. Once again he was king of the Games and the local press called him the perfect man.

He never managed to achieve an Olympic gold medal, the great dream of every athlete, but at least he tried on numerous occasions and on some he came very close, as at the 2000 Sydney summer Games, with bronze. The performance was good and he deserved to be in the final, but the judges did not rate him fairly on the main apparatus, the rings, and he finished in ninth place, as first alternate. In the all-around competition he finished in 17th place.

In 2001 he achieved another of the great goals. A medal in world competitions, a place reserved only for the greats. The competition was the Gent World Championship, Belgium, where he achieved the silver medal in another of his preferred apparatus: parallel bars. The execution had a high degree of difficulty and was well executed, receiving a score of 9.675, only surpassed by American Sean Towsend (9.700) and ahead of the stellar Belarusian Iván Ivankov (9.637). Likewise, among the maximum accumulators and among the cream of world gymnastics, he placed fifth.

The best Cuba had achieved up to that point was Casimiro Suárez's fourth place in vault at the 1981 World Championship, where in the high bar preliminaries he also achieved a perfect score of 10 points, the first and only one by a Cuban in World Championships.

Also in 2001 he triumphed as maximum accumulator in the America's Cup by invitation, a competition in which only elite gymnasts participated.

In 2002 he won the gold medal at the Panamerican Championship of the discipline held in Cancún, Mexico as maximum accumulator.

In 2003 he repeated fifth place in the all-around at the World Championship in the California city of Anaheim, in the United States. In 2003, he participated in the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, as the best gymnast on the continent, attending the Dominican competition with the label of favorite and with the objective of continuing to increase his medal harvest. Another accident again put his participation in jeopardy, as weeks before the start of the pan-American games he suffered an injury in training; but he did not fail to surprise, as despite the discomfort he won six gold medals and increased to 18 his titles in these four-year competitions, something that no other gymnast has been able to equal. He also surpassed the five gold and one silver achieved in Winnipeg 1999. The Cuban demonstrated strength, flexibility and precision in pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar, plus proclaimed himself the most complete in the all-around and as a member of the Cuba team.

In total, at Pan American Games, Erick López achieved 18 gold medals, three silver and one bronze, and broke the record maintained for more than 35 years by American gymnast Abraham Grossfeld (14-2-5).

Retirement

He has been considered the best in the country of all time. After 26 years in active sports, he decided to retire in 2004, although he never disconnected from artistic gymnastics; first as a coach and later as a sports judge.

He was selected to take a comprehensive training course and in 2006 he was included in a master's degree coordinated with Olympic Solidarity, where he received classes in several cities in Spain and completed his final evaluation in Switzerland.

The greatest medalist in Pan American Games is living a different stage in his life, a newly discovered relationship with sports commentary keeps the former gymnast highly motivated, fascinated by a world that until now was unknown to him and although he recognizes that he does not yet see himself behind the microphone he assures that he has the foundation to do it well, and he feels prepared to achieve it.