CubaPLUS Magazine

Wrestler Mijaín López, Paralympic sprinter Omara Durand Elías, both Cubans, and the Argentine soccer team were the winners in the 60th edition of Prensa Latina's Annual Sports Survey.

The Giant from Herradura —a town in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio— won his second award as the best male athlete in Latin America and the Caribbean (he previously won it in 2021), practically sweeping the votes cast by 105 media outlets that participated in the Survey.

This year, Mijaín became the first athlete in any sport in Olympic history to win the summer title in the same event in five consecutive games and for this reason deserved the approval of 87 media outlets, well above the five votes obtained by Salvadoran tennis player Marcelo Arévalo.

Meanwhile, Durand Elías won the women's category with 40 nominations, almost double that of Dominican sprinter Marileidy Paulino and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, both with 19 votes. The Cuban Paralympic athlete closed a dream sporting career, after winning three Olympic titles in Paris 2024 (100, 200 and 400 meters) and raising the number of summer titles in her record to 11, to which she adds 13 golds in Parapan American events and 14 in world championships.

For its part, the Albiceleste closed with 49 votes in this 60th edition of the Survey and became unreachable for its runner-up, the Cuban Baseball5 team (which deserved the approval of 35 media outlets), crowned as champions in the Hong Kong 2024 World Cup, in a section where 10 other teams obtained at least one vote.

The Argentine team had previously won the 1986, 1991, 2001, 2008, 2014, 2021 and 2022 editions. The main merit of the Argentine team was the title in the Copa América held in the middle of the year in the United States, where it closed undefeated after beating Colombia in the final in overtime.

This was the second consecutive title in the main continental football tournament for the squad led by star Lionel Messi —for many the best player in history—, a roster whose majority of players have won the title in the 2022 Qatar World Cup and in the 2023 Final. After this 60th edition, the historical list of winners among men continues to be dominated by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt with six awards, followed by the Cuban prince of heights Javier Sotomayor (5), while among women the Colombian Caterine Ibargüen and Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas lead (both with five), ahead of the Cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot (4).

Bolt, the current world record holder for the 100 (9.58 seconds) and 200 meters (19.19 seconds), won in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016), while Ibargüen received the award in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, and Rojas won the award in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

 Among the teams, the most recognized has been the Brazilian soccer team, awarded on nine occasions, followed by the Argentine team, eight times, while the Brazilian volleyball (men) and Cuban (women) teams have won four awards.

It is worth remembering that these votes from the Latin American agency saw the light in 1964, with the Cuban sprinter Enrique Figuerola as the first winner, and that since 1980 it was decided to include the category of Best Team of the Year, while since 1988 men and women began to be chosen separately.
(Taken from Prensa Latina)