Askui Filiberto

Born in 1972 in the city of Esmeralda near Camaguey. He was engaged in wrestling from the age of 10, from the age of 14 he began to train at a specialized school.

In 1993 he won the Pan American Championship, in 1994 he confirmed the title of Pan American Champion. In 1995, he won the Pan American Games , won the World Cup and won the bronze medal at the World Cup. In 1996, he won the Pan American Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he fought in the category of up to 74 kilograms ( welterweight ). After the first round, the wrestlers were divided into two tables: winners and losers. The winners continued to fight among themselves, and the losers participated in comforting battles. After two defeats in the preliminary and classification (comforting) rounds, the wrestler dropped out of the tournament. Thus, during the tournament, the losers were eliminated twice from the table of the defeated, but it was also replenished by the losers from the table of winners. Ultimately, the top eight wrestlers were determined. The losers never met in the fight for 1-2 places, those who lost in the semifinal met with the winners of the comforting battles and the winners of these meetings fought for 3-4 places and so on. In the category of 20 athletes fought. Filiberto Askuy smoothly and confidently held the tournament, won all the meetings and became the Olympic champion. Nevertheless, the Finnish delegation appealed the outcome of the final meeting, and after a frame-by-frame analysis, the arbitration committee decided in favor of the Cuban.

He was second at the 1996 World Cup and at the Vantaa Painicup tournament. In 1997, he again became the champion of Panamerica and won the bronze medal of the World Cup. In 1998, he won the Pan American Championship again, won the FILA Test Tournament, and was second in the World Championship. In 1999, he won the title of vice champion of the Pan American Games, and at the world championship he was only ninth. In 2000, he again became the winner of the Pan American Championship.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he fought in the category of up to 69 kilograms ( welterweight ). The tournament participants, numbering 19 people, were divided into six groups, in each of which the struggle was conducted according to a circular system. The winners in the groups reached the quarter finals, where they fought on the system with elimination after the defeat. The losers took places according to qualification and technical points obtained in the battles. Filiberto Askuy once again spoke confidently, in the final in less than two minutes, sorting out his opponent, and became the two-time Olympic champion.

In 2001, he again became a Pan American champion and finally won the title of world champion. In 2002, he was third at the World Cup. In 2003, he won the Pan American Games and the Dave Schultz Memorial, and was only 17th at the World Championships. In 2004, he won the pre-Olympic qualification tournament and the Pan American Championship.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he fought in the category of up to 74 kilograms ( average weight ). The tournament was attended by 20 people; tournament regulations generally remained the same. Filiberto Askuy won in the group, but in the quarterfinals lost to the Finnish wrestler in the extra round, and remained sixth in the final protocol.

After the games he left his career, currently is a wrestling coach and sports functionary in Cuba.

Along with Hector Milian was considered a specialist in the execution of the deflection, with which he won both the final bouts at the Olympic Games ^[3]

Member of the FILA International Fight Hall of Fame (2007), the only Latino in this hall ^{[4] [5]}

• Filiberto Askuy - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Filiberto Askuy - profile on International Wrestling Database