Caribbean Medal Tally On The Uptick At Rio 2016

Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera of Cuba celebrates winning the silver medal after being defeated by Artur Aleksanyan of Armenia in the Men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg Gold Medal final bout on Day 11 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 2 on August 16, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

By NAN Sports Editor

News Americas, RIO, Brazil, Weds. Aug. 17, 2016: The Caribbean region’s medal tally climbed to a whopping 16 medals last night as the countdown begins to the close of competition at Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Cuba continues to lead the medal count for the Caribbean with eight medals as of Tuesday, August 16th. Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera won silver yesterday in Rio in the Men’s Greco-Roman 98 kg wrestling match-up.

The other medal winners to date are:

Mijain Nunez Lopez who won the country’s second gold in the men’s Greco-Roman 130 kg wrestling competition;

Lazaro Jorge Alvarez who claimed bronze in the Men’s Light (60kg) boxing match-up;

Ismael Borrero Molina who won the first gold for Cuba in the Men’s Greco-Roman 59 kg wrestling match-up;

Lazaro Jorge Alvarez who took the bronze in the Men’s Light (60kg) boxing competition;

Idalys Ortiz who won silver in the Women +78 kg judo competition;

Erislandy Savón with two bronze medal apiece in the men’s heavy 91 kg boxing face-off and

Joahnys Argilagos with bronze in the Men’s Light Fly (46-49kg) competitions;

Jamaica now has five medals – the second most for the Caribbean and the most gold medals. Omar Mcleod claimed Jamaica’s third gold medal in Rio last night winning the Men’s 110-m Hurdles finals. Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, and Elaine Thompson, have both already mined gold for their nation winning the men’s 100-m and women’s 100-m finals, respectively while former women’s 100-m record holder, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, won a bronze. Sherika Jackson on Monday night added a bronze medal to the total with a third place win in the finals of the women’s 400-m.

Bahamas made their debut on the medal table Monday night to join Grenada and Puerto Rico with one apiece so far. Shaunae Miller’s dive for the line to win the women’s 400-m ahead of the US’ Alyson Felix is still the talk of social media.

Puerto Rico’s Mónica Puig has won gold for the US Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico by beating Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic in the Women’s singles tennis match-up while Kirani James won silver in the men’s 400-m final in Rio on Sunday night, Aug. 14, 2016 for Grenada.

Latin America Medal Count

Meanwhile, Latin America’s medal count marched forward on Tuesday to a total of 18 medals.

Brazil leads with11 while Colombia has four medals. Argentina has two and Venezuela one medal to date which was won by Yulimar Royas, who claimed silver in the Women’s Triple Jump.