Cuban Federation President Jose Barrientos shocked the sporting world yesterday when he announced to the Prensa Latina news agency that Cuba would not be sending any female boxers to the 2012 London Olympics, giving an outdated reasoning that it was an “inappropriate” discipline for women to participate in.
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With the support of Cuban Head Trainer Pedro Roque who believes Cuban women “are made for beauty and not to take blows around the head,” Barrientos stated that there were no plans for Cuba to begin a development programme for female boxers.
The news comes after the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge announced that women’s boxing would be introduced in the 2012 games. Until now boxing was the only sport in the Olympics that women did not also compete in.
The news that Cuba would send no female team was suprising to many as Cuba is considered a powerhouse of amateur boxing, having won 63 of its 194 Olympic medals since the country’s debut in 1900 St Louis games in the sport. Within that 63, 32 are gold medals, making Cuba the second most successful country after the USA in Olympic history in that respect.
Regarding their old-fashioned views that women are for beauty not tough sports, there appears to be a contradiction with the Cuban Olympic teams as since 2006 Cuban women have participated in both wrestling and weightlifting at the elite level.
Imogen Jacobs, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
