14ymedio, Mexico City, August 14, 2024 — The images of Chilean President Gabriel Boric adjusting the microphone of the Cuban Olympic medalist Yasmani Acosta, who competed in Paris with the flag of the South American country, have gone around the world. His warm reception at the Palacio de la Moneda contrasted with the gloomy one that the athletes of the Island received in Havana; they had to settle for an airport in the dark and a rally without an audience.
Boric celebrated the athlete from Mantanzas, as one of the Chilean delegation also applauded Acosta, a silver medal winner in the 130 kg category of Greco-Roman wrestling. Along with the applause from his teammates, the Cuban hugged Boric too intensely. “And that’s why they didn’t give him a key,” immediately joked the gold medalist in skeet shooting, Francisca Crovetto.
Acosta stressed in his speech that he felt “welcomed” by the Chileans, without whose support he would not have been able to compete in the Olympic Games. “I felt indebted, and I wanted to give a medal to the country,” said Acosta in the Plaza de la Constitución at the end of the ceremony.
Boric celebrated the athlete from Mantanzas as one of the Chilean delegation
Jokes aside, it was the money earned by Acosta that most impressed Cuban fans in their home country. With the medal comes $46,000, Chile’s prize for its triumph in Paris. In addition, the Government will grant him a monthly scholarship of 2,692,303 Chilean pesos – about $3,000 – until the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028.
“What a joy to see how the people of Chile are thanking Yasmani (…) They can’t imagine how our chests swell with pride when we see our athletes, and everyone, our entire Olympic delegation,” Boric said.
In Paris, Acosta was shot down by his fireproof compatriot Mijaín López, famous not only for his triumphs – five consecutive Olympic golds – but for dedicating them to
