Cuba topped the medal table at the Pan American Championships last weekend for the first time since 2011 with a resurgent and clinical display in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The three-day continental championships featured 222 judoka from 25 countries with 15 nations emerging with a medal.
Cuba, who have not had their usual strong presence on the IJF World Judo Tour so far this year, were unstoppable in their home continent as their mix of youth and seasoned champions blended well for individual and team success.
Two-time Grand Prix hosts Cuba (Havana 2014 and 2016) won five gold medals, three silver and four bronze to finish ahead of Canada and Brazil.
Cuba's world number 60 Maylin DEL TORO CARVAJAL (above in blue) – who defeated Olympic champion Tina TRSTENJAK in February on the IJF World Judo Tour – won all four of her -63kg contests by ippon.
World bronze medallist Kaliema ANTOMARCHI (CUB) charged to victory in the -78kg category while London 2012 Olympic champion and Cuban legend Idalys ORTIZ won the heavyweight title.
Cuba’s men’s team also enjoyed success as they contributed two gold medals to their country’s 12-medal haul.
Defending champion Osniel SOLIS was peerless in the -66kg category and Ivan Felipem SILVA MORALES (CUB) beat teammate and London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Asley GONZALEZ (CUB) to win the -90kg title.
Elsewhere Olympic champion Paula PARETO (ARG) defeated brown belt Keisy PERAFAN (ARG) for -48kg gold and Tokyo 2020 candidate Jessica PEREIRA (BRA) bested Angelica DELGADO (USA) in the -52kg final.
Paris Grand Slam winner Christa DEGUCHI (CAN) won on her Pan American Championships debut with four ippons from four contests as Tamires CRUDE (BRA) took silver.
Three-time world champion Yuri ALVEAR (COL) was unmatched in the -70kg category with Tokyo-based Elvismar RODRIGUEZ (VEN) finishing with silver. World number 33 Lenin PRECIADO (ECU) was unopposed in the -60kg category while -73kg judoka Antoine BOUCHARD (CAN) won the Pan American Championships for the second time.
Two-time world medallist and London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Antoine VALOIS-FORTIER (CAN) led the way at -81kg and Tunis Grand Prix bronze medallist Leonardo GONCALVES (BRA) won his first Pan American Championships gold medal.
World number 39 Freddy FIGUEROA (ECU) won his continental championships for the first time in the final individual contest of the competition.
Cuba’s carried their individual success into the team event as they won the first ever mixed team competition at a Pan American Championships.
The new format, which will make its Olympic debut in 2020, has been adopted since the 2017 World Championships and Cuba’s men and women (three of each) combined to defeat Brazil for gold.
Peru and Venezuela were the bronze medallists.
IJF Ambassador Dr. Antonio Castro was among the distinguished guests in attendance in Costa Rica and shared his thoughts on the event.
“It was a good tournament and you could appreciate the high quality level of judo,” said the IJF Ambassador who was also in attendance at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.
“There were a lot of exciting matches and I have to say that the Pan American Judo Confederation and the Judo Federation of Costa Rica together with the Costa Rica Olympic Committee did a great job.”
There were many highlights for the competitors, spectators and the mass of media and Dr. Castro picked out his favourite moments.
“It was very exciting to see again in the tatami Olympic champions like Paula Pareto, Idalys Ortiz and many medallists from the World Championships and other events of the judo tour, which gave a lot of quality to the event.
“We are almost at the beginning of the qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and it was pleasing to see a large number of young judoka who have a dream of participating and obtaining medals in Tokyo 2020.”
The competition culminated with the mixed team event and there was universal approval for Pan America’s first experience of the new format.
“It is a format that is here to stay on merit and has a high degree of excitement and competitiveness in our beautiful sport. You have to show teamwork to achieve your goal and the mixed team event will be very successful in the next Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
As a Cuban and an avid sports fan, Dr. Castro enjoyed seeing his nation win individual and team honours but other nations also stood out.
“Cuba obtained very good results and many of their judoka are reaching a great level and you can see that they have a balanced and very united team.
“They are preparing for the Caribbean regional Games in July so at this moment they are in good shape. It should be noted that Canada showed a great level as Brazil with some new athletes while the Dominican Republic and Venezuela were very competitive too. The United States presented a young and competitive team also, like the rest of the countries which saw a tremendous efforts to develop the sport in his region.”
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