Cuba and its 9th Paralympic Games with Omara and Robiel at Paris 2024

World record holders and Paralympic champions in Tokyo 2020, Omara Durand and Robiel Yankiel Sol, will once again assume the responsibility of Cuba's main results in their ninth Paralympic multisport event in Paris 2024 (since Barcelona 92), scheduled from August 28 to September 8.

As in the Japanese capital, Omara is the favorite to climb to the top of the podium in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, category T12, and if she repeats, she would reach 11 titles at this level; while Robiel Yankiel will seek his second in the long jump, to be both at the height of their status as standard-bearers -mixed- of the Cuban representation.

Cuba will be in the Parisian competition with the purpose of winning around 10 medals, between four and five crowns, and to be included among the first 25 countries.

The group is made up of 22 athletes with disabilities, 10 coaches and a guide, distributed in para-athletics (10-3-1), para-judo (1-1-0), para-swimming (2-1-0), parataekwondo (3-1-0), para-football (1-1-0), table paratriathlon (1-1-0), archery (1-1-0) and para-sports (3-1-0).

Cuba has accumulated 91 medals (43-20-28), distributed in Barcelona 92 (3-3-3-3), Atlanta 1996 (8-3-0), Sydney 2000 (4-2-2-2), Athens 2004 (2-2-7), Beijing 2008 (5-3-6), London 2012 (9-5-3), Rio de Janeiro 2016 (8-1-6) and Tokyo 2020 (4-1-1).

The sports owners of the three-color trophy are para-athletics (73/36-18-19), para-judo (13/6-0-7) and para-swimming (5/1-2-2), and once again they will be the main protagonists in the City of Light, led by the Cuban flag bearers.

The 32-year-old Omara, who hails from the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, began her golden medal haul in London with titles in the 100 and 400 meters (T13), followed by Rio de Janeiro, in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m (T12); and Tokyo, in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m (T12), in the last two editions with her guide Junior Kindelan.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Robiel Yankiel, from Havana, holds the crown of the Japanese capital in the long jump (T47).

According to the specialists and the program of the competition, the Cuban athletes will compete in parataekwondo (August 29-31), para-athletics (August 30-September 7), para-sports (August 30-September 4), para-swimming (August 31-September 6), para-archery (September 3), para-bowling (September 4), para-tennis (September 6) and para-judo (September 7).

In Tokyo 2020, the Caribbean island ranked 35th with gold medals for Omara (3) and Robiel (1), silver for Leinier Savon in the long jump (T12) and bronze for Leonardo Diaz in the discus throw (F56).

The first three places went to China (96-66-51), Great Britain (41-38-45) and the United States (37-36-31), respectively.

The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will take place on August 28 and will be held at the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysées, with the participation of 4,400 athletes, and according to the organizers, it promises to be “inclusive” and “spectacular”.

Details of the opening event show that 65,000 spectators will be seated in stands in the Place de la Concorde and its surroundings, in the center of the French capital. The ceremony will last three hours and has been designed by Thomas Jolly, also artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the recently concluded Olympic Games in Paris.

The cauldron will be relit and will take off in its balloon into the sky each night, as it did during the two weeks of Olympic competitions, with the official opening on the Seine River, for the first time in history outside a stadium.

The closing ceremony of the Paralympics will take place on September 8 at the Stade de France, the same venue that hosted the closing ceremony of the Games for conventional athletes.