Rafael Alba's bronze puts Cuba on the Tokyo 2020 medal table

July 28, 2021

After transitioning from disappointment to hope, hanging on to his Macedonian victimizer, Cuban taekwondo athlete Rafael Alba secured Cuba's first medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games by winning the bronze medal in the division of over 80 kilograms.

The two-time world champion saw his Olympic dream turned into a nightmare right at the start of his journey in the Japanese capital. Young Dejan Georgievski, from North Macedonia, defeated him 11-8 and limited his medal possibilities to a potential advance in the repechage.

The surprising victory by the European over the world monarch in 2013 and 2019 was barely the beginning of a day full of events, which took him to compete for the gold medal and allowed the Caribbean athlete to access the repechage. The Pan-American champion in Toronto 2015 won 8-2 against Ivorian Seydou Gbane to advance to the bronze medal match.

In that instance, Alba defeated Chinese Hongyi Sun 5-4 and secured the first medal for a Cuban delegation that now occupies 52nd place on the medal count. According to a report from Prensa Latina, the 27-year-old athlete improved on the ninth place achieved in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and became the sixth Cuban taekwondo Olympic medalist.

The list is completed with Ángel Volodia (gold) and Urbia Meléndez (silver) in Sydney 2000; Yanelys Labrada (silver, Athens 2004), Daynellis Montejo (bronze, Beijing 2008) and Robelys Despaigne (bronze, London 2012).