Havana, January 5th.- Although 2026 is an inter-Olympic year as it marks the second calendar year of what is known as the four-year cycle separating the Games under the five rings, it will be a calendar filled with major events. For the cultured Cuban sports fans, it is also an invitation to enjoy great sporting occasions.
The largest of the Antilles will have two major competitive highlights, framed within the path toward the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. The first will be in the Dominican Republic, host of the Central American and Caribbean Games from July 24 to August 8, and the second in the Senegalese city of Dakar, which will host the Youth Olympic Games between October 31 and November 6.
Of course, the 7th World Baseball Classic will capture, in March, the attention of a people who breathe to the rhythm of baseball. Equally captivating will be the FIFA World Cup, held from June 11 to July 19 in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. It is an event that Cuba has been able to experience, match by match, since the Spain 1982 edition.
SANTO DOMINGO ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The twenty-fifth edition of the Central American and Caribbean multi-sport event is not just another one. It is the version of these games that marks its centenary.
It holds special significance for Cuba, as it is one of the founding members of these Games, which in 1926 were first hosted by Mexico and included three participating countries, as Guatemala also took part. Back then, they were called the Central American Games, and it wasn’t until the third edition, in 1935 in El Salvador, that they adopted their current name.
It also carries motivation because it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the epic Cerro Pelado feat in 1966, when during a competition like this, the United States tried to prevent Cuban participation in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They arrived by sea and disembarked in small boats, but Cuba was present despite threatening overflights of US planes above the ship transporting the athletes.
Another driving force in taking on this now difficult commitment comes from the heart of the national Physical Culture. On February 23, it will be 65 years since the founding of INDER, through Law 936, which laid the foundation for what soon became a sporting powerhouse.
The dignified participation of Cuban athletes in these Games will also be a tribute from sport to the victims of the heinous crime against a Cubana de Aviación airplane, carrying the homeland’s fencing team 50 years ago on October 6, 1976.
For the upcoming Dominican meeting, Cuba already has 16 sports with 226 athletes qualified, a delegation that will continue to grow with the qualification processes during this first semester.
José Antonio Miranda, Director of High Performance at INDER, told Granma that the goal "is to maintain one of the top three positions on the medal table."
Although these Games don’t have the scale of the Pan American Games, and much less the Olympics, today that is a plausible aspiration, given the diversity and breadth of its competitive program, which is a challenge for Cuba.
Mexico and Colombia are currently the teams that have occupied the top of the medal standings, a reign that Cuba, the green caiman, maintained uninterruptedly from 1970 until 2014.
It will be the greatest challenge for sport in 2026.
A COUNTRY OPPORTUNITY
The Youth Olympic Games return for their fourth edition, after COVID-19 affected the Buenos Aires 2018 event. This time, they will be held in Africa, an expression of inclusion by the IOC that the Olympic Games themselves have never had in more than 130 years.
The Senegalese city of Dakar will be the host of a gathering where the IOC has wisely prioritized the participation of athletes from that continent. As a result, participation numbers have not yet been established.
However, there will be a Cuban delegation, representing a country opportunity, as it allows the youngest talents in the world to come together on the most demanding stage of sport.
For example, the World Baseball Softball Confederation, present with Baseball5, decided that the youth world champion team would go directly to Dakar—a ticket that Cuba secured last September.
The Largest of the Antilles has a distinguished record in these prestigious competitions.
- Cuba is among the top ten countries in these Games, in an event where 110 nations have won at least one medal.
- It is one of the two American countries in that leading group; the other is the United States.
- Its best position was in the first edition, in Singapore 2010. It won nine gold medals, three silver, and two bronze, securing fifth place on the medal table, the best position achieved by the American continent.
- In Nanjing 2014, the Largest of the Antilles dropped to 32nd place, with two golds, one silver, and the same number of bronze medals. It was the third most prominent delegation in the hemisphere, behind the United States (3) and Brazil (6).
- Buenos Aires hosted the third edition, in which Cuba rose with four gold medals, did not earn any silver medals, but did win two bronze. This outcome allowed it to rank 16th, which, along with Colombia (14th), represented the most outstanding performance on the continent.
The Olympic competition for rookies is a qualifying event for a sports reserve that the Cuban sports movement has been honing at the II Junior Pan American Games, whose latest edition was held in Chile in 2025.
- In that continental edition, the goal of evaluating the progression in performance and results of outstanding representatives from that talent pool was achieved.
- There, 28 athletes qualified for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima.
- Four records were set for the Games in the sport of athletics, in the events of 3,000 meters steeplechase, 110 meters hurdles, 100 meters hurdles, and decathlon.
Here Comes the Ball
Perhaps in the Cuban sports universe, no competition generates more opinions than the World Baseball Classic. Baseball sets the cultural pace of Cuban sports because it is a national feeling; that is why, based on these criteria, poisonous hatred, division, and attacks are poured out.
There is no doubt that we will have a good, competitive team that will give a fight, regardless of how many players come from American, Japanese baseball, or any of the Caribbean or other winter leagues. In the end, they all emerged from the Cuban cradle, a source of baseball genes of excellence.
It is gratifying to hear the expressions of players who perform in that paid baseball, when they express their desire to represent their Homeland, and it is also a big headache because the number is finite. Where there is room for 24, there is no space for the 25th, and there are many more quality players who exceed that number, just as in our troubled 64th National Series, we have players at the level to be in such a demanding competition.
Cuba, which has always surpassed the first stage in these tournaments, will go in search of matching or surpassing its presence in the semifinals, achieved in the 2023 edition. It had its best result as being the runner-up in the opening event, in 2026.
But the truth is that the final team representing us will be accompanied at every at-bat, pitch, play, inning after inning by a people who know how to support and love their idols.
CUBA, ROAD TO LOS ANGELES-2028
Other sports with important missions ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games will take on significant commitments.
Athletics
World Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, from March 20 to 22.
Ultimate Championships in September in Budapest. Debut of World Athletics, with 16 athletes per event up to 800 meters; semifinals and finals for hurdles; direct finals for 1,500 and 5,000 meters with 12 athletes; and eight in relays. The current world and Olympic champions will participate; the rest qualify by world ranking.
Diamond League, with 32 events and eight stops, from May 8 to September 5.
Judo
World Championships in Baku (October 4-11), plus the Grand Slams in Paris, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Dushanbe, Astana, Ulaanbaatar, Budapest, Abu Dhabi, and Tokyo. The Ulaanbaatar event will mark the first qualifying event for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Wrestling
World Championships (September 5-13) in Bahrain, from October 24 to November 1.
Boxing
World Boxing announced there will be no world championship, but there will be two phases of World Cups and the final, which will be held in Uzbekistan in November.
Canoeing
The World Championships for this sport return to Poznan, Poland, after 16 years.
Weightlifting
World Championships in the Chinese city of Ningbo.
Taekwondo
World Championships will take place in the South Korean city of Gimcheon, from July 10 to 12.
Volleyball
The main competition will be the Nations League, in mid-year.
(Taken from Granma)
