Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics
| Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | CUB | ||||||||
| NOC | Cuban Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| in Beijing | |||||||||
| Competitors | 149 in 16 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer |
Mijaín López (opening) Leonel Suárez (closing) |
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Medals Ranked 28th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
| Qualified for the quarterfinals | |
| Eliminated |
Cuba competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. As of 8 August 2008, 165 Cuban athletes had qualified to compete in 16 sports. The country's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was wrestler Mijaín López.
Cuba sent archers to the Olympics for the third time, seeking the nation's first Olympic medal in the sport. Juan Carlos Stevens earned the country its only qualifying spot, in the men's competition, by placing second in the 2008 Pan American championship.
Cuba sent 40 representatives in athletics.
* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of the Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance. Both the A and the B tests were positive, therefore Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, and Quintana moved up a position.
Cuba earned a qualification spot in baseball by placing in the top two at the 2006 Americas Olympic Qualifying Event. The Cuba national baseball team has historically been very successful at the Olympics, winning the gold medal in three of the four tournaments held so far and taking the silver in 2000.
Cuba qualified ten boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. The light heavyweight class was the only one in which Cuba did not qualify a boxer. Nine of the ten Cuban qualifiers did so at the first American qualifying tournament. For the first time since the 1988 Olympic Games, Cuba did not win a gold medal.
Three Cuban canoers and one kayaker have qualified for the Olympic Games.
Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage
* Ángel Matos was leading 3–2 in the bronze medal bout against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, until he apparently suffered a broken toe, and was subsequently disqualified for exceeding the allotted one minute of injury time. Matos kicked referee Chakir Chelbat in the face, pushed a judge and spat on the floor of the arena before being escorted out by security. His coach, Leudin González, criticized the referee's ruling as stricter and also accused Kazakhstan of bribing officials. The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) said that Matos and González (pending IOC approval and a possible appeal) would be banned from all its future sanctioned events and his records at the Beijing Games would be erased.
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