MIAMI, United States. – He National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) of Cuba replaced the national commissioners of four key disciplines, after the disastrous performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and just four months before the event.
Those dismissed are Alberto Puig de la Barca (boxing), Jorge Luis Barcelán Santa Cruz (weightlifting), Rafael Jacinto Manso Reyes (judo) and Jorge Sosa Ferrer (volleyball).
In a Facebook postthe entity justified the measure with the term “release for renewal”: “Cuban Sports has four new national commissioners after the release, for renewal, of colleagues whose valuable contributions we have recognized and who will continue to pay taxes based on the accumulated experience.” .
The new appointees are Robinson Poll Díaz (boxing), Camilo Reynaldo Ramírez (weightlifting), Andrés Taño González (judo) and Yumilka Daisy Ruiz Luaces (volleyball).
The decision comes after an Olympic cycle marked by obvious decline. In Paris, boxing, considered the flagship of Cuban sport, went from the four titles won in Tokyo 2020 to a single gold medal, that of Erislandy Álvarez, while two of its defending champions did not repeat their gold medals.
Judo, for its part, did not win medals, and the withdrawal before the classification of Magdiel Estrada, in the 73 kg category, left the Island without a representative in that division.
Weightlifting only managed to bring in one athlete, Ayamey Medina, who failed to register a record due to an injury. Volleyball, a discipline that once topped the women’s Olympic podium, did not even qualify for these Olympic Games; In fact, it has maintained a downward trend since Beijing 2008, in the case of women, and since Rio 2016, in the case of men.
