Filiberto Azcuy Aguilera

Outstanding Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler, competitor in the Olympic Games of Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).

Filiberto Azcuy was born in the city of Esmeralda, in the province of Camagüey. At ten years of age he entered the School of Sports Initiation (EIDE) of his native municipality, under the direction of professor Juan Fernández Silva.

Very soon he was promoted to the Cuban youth team, and subsequently to the senior national team selection, which was directed by coach Pedro Val. In 1995 specialists began to consider him for the Atlanta Olympic Games, as he had convincingly defeated, in the 74-kilogram division, his compatriot Néstor Almanza, world champion in 1993. Furthermore, he prevailed against strong rivals from the United States and Canada in the Pan American Sports Games of Mar del Plata, Argentina, and finished with a bronze medal in the World Championship of that same year, in Varna, Bulgaria.

In 1996 he obtained a spot for the next Olympic competition. That same year he became champion in the World Cup.

In his first Olympic Games—those of Atlanta, 1996—he competed in the 74-kilogram division, and defeated Finnish wrestler Marko Asell, to achieve first place.

From 1997 on, there was a change in amateur wrestling divisions; it was difficult for Azcuy to maintain his weight and, therefore, he did not obtain the results he expected. He participated in 1998 in the World Championship in Gavle, Switzerland, but in the new 76-kilogram division, and lost in the final for the title. A year later, in the same division, during the World Championship in Athens, Greece, he did not advance past the quarterfinals, although he managed to qualify for the Sydney Olympic Games. Azcuy arrived at these Games weighing 69 kilograms, five less than in Atlanta, where he had won the gold medal. He achieved the division change, due to his new weight, thanks to a general strategy in his training and to the preparation he received in the National Championship and the International Granma Championship, both in February 1999. After attending the International Nicolai Petrov Tournament in Bulgaria in March, he went to the Pan American Tournament in Cali, Colombia, in July, where he won the gold medal. As a culmination of his preparation, Azcuy did high-altitude training in Ecuador and spent twenty days in Japan, to adapt to Australia's time zones.

He arrived at the Sydney Games as one of the best-prepared wrestlers technically and psychologically, and successive victories in the elimination rounds allowed him to face Japanese wrestler Katsuhito Nagata for the highest honor. Two consecutive throws by the Cuban determined his victory by technical superiority (11-0).

Azcuy had obtained two consecutive titles in different divisions, a goal very difficult for any athlete. He already possessed all the titles in maximum-level events, but he was still missing the gold medal in world championships, in which he had achieved until then bronze in 1995 (74 kg), silver in 1998 (76 kg), and ninth place in 1999 (76 kg).

In December 2001, maintaining his 69-kilogram division, Azcuy attended the 46th World Championship, Greco-Roman style, in Patras, Greece. He defeated Russian Alexei Glouchkov in the final round (4-0).

He participated in following years in other World Championships: in 2002, in Moscow, he achieved third place in the 74-kilogram division; in 2003, also in the 74-kilogram division, he finished in seventeenth place. That same year, he won the gold medal in the Pan American Sports Games of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

At 32 years of age, Filiberto Azcuy participated in his last Olympic Games, in Athens (2004), where he did not win a medal. He then decided to announce his retirement, and took on responsibilities in the Cuban Wrestling Federation. He retired as an active athlete in 2010.

He was an honored guest at the Pan American Sports Games of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There, during the awards ceremony of the final day of the wrestling specialty, he was presented with a plaque accrediting him as a member of the Hall of Fame of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA). Azcuy has been the first Latin American wrestler to receive such an honor.

MAIN RESULTS
GOLD Atlanta Olympic Games 1996 (74 kg)
GOLD Sydney Olympic Games 2000 (69 kg)
GOLD Patras World Championship 2001 (69 kg)
SILVER Gavle World Championship 1998 (76 kg)
BRONZE Varna World Championship 1995 (74 kg)
BRONZE Moscow World Championship 2002 (74 kg)
GOLD Mar del Plata Pan American Games 1995 (74 kg)
GOLD Santo Domingo Pan American Games 2003 (76 kg)
SILVER Winnipeg Pan American Games 1999 (76 kg)

Source: EnCaribe.org