Alejandro Puerto

Alejandro Puerto Díaz (born October 1, 1964 in Pinar del Río ) is a former Cuban wrestler . He became Olympic champion in 1992 and world champion in free style in bantamweight in 1990 and 1994 .

Career

Alejandro Puerto started wrestling in 1976. He belonged to the sports club Cerro Pelado Pinar del Rio and was trained mainly by Juan Caballero and Isidro Canedo. He devoted himself exclusively to free style and, with a height of 1.60 meters, always competed in the bantamweight from 1984. He studied sports. His career suffered from the fact that Cuba boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul .

He made his first start in an international championship in 1978 when he took first place in the Pan-American Junior Championship in the weight class up to 44 kg. Then he was only back in 1982 at the Central America and Caribbean Games in Havana at the start, where he took second place in flyweight behind Emiro Marquez from Venezuela . In 1983 he came at the Pan American Games in Caracas in the flyweight behind Ray Takahashi , Canada and Charles Heard, United States in 3rd place. In 1984 he was in Las Tunas bantamweight winner at the Central American Championships in front of Joaquin Valdonado from Mexico . At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, however, he was unable to participate because of the boycott of these games by Cuba.

In 1985 he was used for the first time at a world championship . In Budapest he took 6th place in the bantamweight, which was won by Sergei Beloglasow from the Soviet Union . At the 1986 World Cup, which took place again in Budapest, he just missed a medal with a 4th place behind Sergei Beloglasow, Georgi Kaltschew , Bulgaria and Barry Davis , United States . In 1987 he won the Pan American Games in Indianapolis in front of Robert Dawson, Canada and Jorge Olvera from Mexico . At the World Cup 1987 in Clermont-Ferrand Cuba did not participate.

In 1988 Cuba took part in a World Cup tournament in Toledo / USA, in which Alejandro Puerto won in front of Noh Kyung-sun, South Korea , but not at the Olympic Games in Seoul . He therefore had to watch the Olympic Games for the second time in a row. In 1989, by the way, the Cuban wrestlers started again at the World Cup tournament in Toledo, where Alejandro Puerto came in 3rd behind Ruslan Karajew, Soviet Union and Charles Heard, USA. At the 1989 World Cup in Martigny / Switzerland , he was eliminated relatively early and only finished 8th.

In 1990 he had his first really big success. He became world bantamweight champion in Tokyo ahead of Rumen Pawlow , Bulgaria, Sergei Smal , USSR and Ahmet Ak , Turkey . At the beginning of 1991 he suffered a serious arm injury at a tournament in Las Tunas . Hardly recovered, he started at the Pan American Games in Havana in 1991 and was defeated there in the final by the American Brad Penrith . At the 1991 World Cup in Varna he could not start because of the aftermath of this injury.

Fully restored, he was again Pan American champion in 1992 ahead of Robert Dawson and Kendall Cross from the United States. In August 1992 he was finally able to take part in the Olympic Games, namely those in Barcelona . He stood there in excellent form and won with wins over Nasser Ahmad, Pakistan , Andres Iniesta, Spain , Robert Dawson, Oveis Mallahi, Iran, Kendall Cross and Sergey Smal , CIS , the gold medal . In 1993 he was not nominated for participation in the World Championships in Toronto . Here Jesus Wilson represented the Cuban colors. In 1994 Alejandro Puerto competed at the World Championships in Istanbul , where he won his second world title ahead of Mohammad Talae , Iran, Bagautdin Umachanow , Russia and Hidemi Hanada, Japan.

In 1995 he lost at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata against Terry Brands from the United States and finished there in 3rd place. At the World Cup that year in Atlanta , he was far from the best form of 1994 and only came in 14th place. Even at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he was unable to build on his earlier successes. He lost there against Šaban Trstena from Macedonia , then won over the Australian Corey O'Brien and finally retired after another defeat against Mohammad Talae, whom he had defeated in the final of the 1994 World Cup. He ended up in 15th place.

After these Olympic Games, he ended his international wrestling career.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1978	1.	Pan American Junior Championship (Cadets)	up to 44 kg
1982	2.	Central American and Caribbean Games in Havana	To fly	behind Emiro Marquez, Venezuela
1983	3.	Pan American Games in Caracas	To fly	behind Ray Takahashi, Canada and Charles Heard, USA
1984	1.	Central American Championship in Las Tunas	Bantam	in front of Joaquim Valdonado, Mexico and Saul Leslie, Panama
1985	6th	World Cup in Budapest	Bantam	Winner: Sergei Beloglasow, USSR ahead of Kevin Darkus , USA
1986	2.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	Bantam	behind Sergei Beloglasow, in front of Barry Davis, USA
1986	1.	Central American and Caribbean Games in Santiago / Cathedral. Rep.	Bantam	before Javier E. Rincon, Colombia and Jorge Gonzales, Mexico
1986	4th	World Cup in Budapest	Bantam	behind Sergei Beloglasow, Georgi Kaltschew, Bulgaria and Barry Davis
1987	1.	Pan American Championship	Bantam	before Robert Dawson, Canada and Jorge Olvera, Mexico
1987	1.	Pan American Games in Indianapolis	Bantam	before Robert Dawson and Jorge Olvera
1988	1.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	Bantam	in front of Noh Kyung-sun, South Korea
1988	1.	Pan American Championship	Bantam	before Greg Robbins, USA and Jorge Olvera
1989	3.	World Cup in Toledo / USA	Bantam	behind Ruslan Karajew, USSR and Charles Heard, USA
1989	8th.	World Cup in Martigny / Switzerland	Bantam	Winner: Kim Sik-seung, South Korea, ahead of Askari Mohammedian, Iran and Rumen Pawlow, Bulgaria
1990	1.	Central American Championship	Bantam	before Luis Hernandez Cortes Narvaez, Colombia and Jorge Olvera
1990	7th	Grand Prix of Germany in Saarbruecken	Bantam	Winner: Alöi Alisultanow, USSR ahead of Zoran Sorov, Yugoslavia
1990	1.	Pan American Championship in Colorado Springs	Bantam	before Raul G. Polo, Peru and Jorg Olvera
1990	1.	World Cup in Tokyo	Bantam	Pavlov, Sergei Smal, USSR and Ahmet Ak, Turkey
1990	1.	Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico City	Bantam	before Luis A. Cortes, Colombia and Jorge Olvera
1991	2.	Pan American Games in Havana	Bantam	behind Brad Penrith, USA, in front of Robert Dawson and Jorge Olvera
1992	1.	Pan American Championship	Bantam	in front of Robert Dawson and Kendall Cross, USA
1992	gold	OS in Barcelona	Bantam	after victories over Ahmad Nasser, Pakistan, Andres Iniesta, Spain, Robert Dawson, Oveis Mallahi, Iran, Kendall Cross and Sergei Smal
1993	3.	World Cup in Chattanooga	Bantam	behind Bagautdin Umachanow , Russia and Guivi Sissaouri , Canada
1994	4th	Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg	Bantam	behind Ismail Zurnacci , Turkey, Bagautdin Umachanow and Brad Penrith, in front of Kim Jong-oh, South Korea
1994	1.	World Cup in Istanbul	Bantam	before Mohammad Talae, Iran, Bagautdin Umachanow and Hidemi Hanada, Japan
1995	3.	Pan American Games in Mar del Plata	Bantam	behind Terry Brands, USA and Robert Dawson
1995	14th	World Cup in Atlanta	Bantam	Winner: Terry Brands ahead of Guivi Sissaouri and Harun Doğan , Turkey
1996	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Cali / Colombia	Bantam	before Guivi Sissaouri and Rob Calabrese, USA
1996	3.	German Grand Prix in Leipzig	Bantam	behind Harun Dogan and Olaf Brandt , Germany
1996	15th	OS in Atlanta	Bantam	after a loss to Saban Trstena, Macedonia, a win over Corey O'Brien, Australia and a loss to Mohammad Talae

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Fly weight, back then up to 52 kg, bantam weight, up to 57 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website

Web links

• Alejandro Puerto in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Alejandro Puerto Diaz in the official Cuban online encyclopedia EcuRed (Spanish)