Cuba at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Cuba competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. As of 8 August 2008, 165 Cuban athletes had qualified to compete in 16 sports. The country's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was wrestler Mijaín López.
Medalists
Archery
Cuba sent archers to the Olympics for the third time, seeking the nation's first Olympic medal in the sport. Juan Carlos Stevens earned the country its only qualifying spot, in the men's competition, by placing second in the 2008 Pan American championship.Athletics
Cuba sent 40 representatives in athletics.;Men
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Combined events – Decathlon
Athlete | Event | 100 m | 400 m | 1500 m | Final | Rank | |||||||
Yordanis García | Result | 10.64 | 7.07 | 15.82 | 1.96 | 49.66 | 13.90 | 36.73 | 4.70 | 65.60 | 5:00.49 | 7992 | 14 |
Yordanis García | Points | 942 | 830 | 840 | 767 | 830 | 987 | 598 | 819 | 822 | 557 | 7992 | 14 |
Leonel Suárez | Result | 10.90 | 7.33 | 14.49 | 2.05 | 47.91 | 14.15 | 44.45 | 4.70 | 73.98 | 4:29.17 | 8527 NR | |
Leonel Suárez | Points | 883 | 893 | 758 | 850 | 913 | 955 | 756 | 819 | 950 | 750 | 8527 NR |
;Women
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Combined events – Heptathlon
Athlete | Event | 200 m | 800 m | Final | Rank | |||||
Gretchen Quintana | Result | 13.77 | 1.68 | 13.10 | 24.34 | 6.02 | 38.14 | 2:20.31 | 5830 | 25* |
Gretchen Quintana | Points | 1011 | 830 | 734 | 948 | 856 | 632 | 819 | 5830 | 25* |
Baseball
Cuba earned a qualification spot in baseball by placing in the top two at the 2006 Americas Olympic Qualifying Event. The Cuba national baseball team has historically been very successful at the Olympics, winning the gold medal in three of the four tournaments held so far and taking the silver in 2000.Athlete | Position |
Ariel Pestano Yoandry Urgellés Alfredo Despaigne Luis Rodríguez Alexei Bell Yadier Pedroso Jonder Martínez Adiel Palma Luis Miguel Navas Giorvis Duvergel Alexander Mayeta Eriel Sánchez Rolando Meriño Héctor Olivera Michel Enríquez Yulieski Gourriel Vicyohandri Odelín Pedro Luis Lazo Eduardo Paret Norberto González Norge Luis Vera Frederich Cepeda Elier Sánchez Miguel La Hera | Catcher Outfield - - Outfield Pitcher Pitcher Pitcher Infield Outfield Infield - Catcher Infield Infield Infield Pitcher Pitcher Infield Pitcher Pitcher Outfield - - |
Team | G | W | L | RS | RA | WIN% | GB | Tiebreaker |
7 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 22 | 1.000 | - | - | |
7 | 6 | 1 | 52 | 23 | .857 | 1 | - | |
7 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 22 | .714 | 2 | - | |
7 | 4 | 3 | 30 | 14 | .571 | 3 | - | |
7 | 2 | 5 | 29 | 33 | .286 | 5 | 1-0 | |
7 | 2 | 5 | 29 | 20 | .286 | 5 | 0-1 | |
7 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 50 | .143 | 6 | 1-0 | |
7 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 60 | .143 | 6 | 0-1 |
Boxing
Cuba qualified ten boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. The light heavyweight class was the only one in which Cuba did not qualify a boxer. Nine of the ten Cuban qualifiers did so at the first American qualifying tournament. For the first time since the 1988 Olympic Games, Cuba did not win a gold medal.Canoeing
Sprint
Three Cuban canoers and one kayaker have qualified for the Olympic Games.Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final
Cycling
Road
Track
;Sprint;Omnium
Athlete | Event | Points | Laps | Rank |
Yoanka González | Women's points race | 18 | 0 |
Diving
;MenFencing
;WomenJudo
;Men;Women
Modern pentathlon
Rowing
;Men;Women
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A ; FB=Final B ; FC=Final C ; FD=Final D ; FE=Final E ; FF=Final F ; SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage
Shooting
;Men;Women
Swimming
;Men;Women
Taekwondo
1 Ángel Matos was leading 3–2 in the bronze medal bout against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, until he apparently suffered a broken toe, and was subsequently ruled to have retired after the allotted one minute of injury time expired. Matos kicked referee Chakir Chelbat in the face, pushed a judge and spat on the floor of the arena before he and his coach, Leudin González, who criticized the referee's ruling as too strict and accused Kazakhstan of bribing officials, were escorted put by security. The World Taekwondo Federation banned Matos and González for life, and Matos' results at the Beijing Games were deleted from the records.Volleyball
Beach
Indoor
Women's tournament
Cuba qualified a team to the women's tournament. The team won all of its five group play games, finishing as group winners. They also won the quarterfinal, bot lost both the semifinal and the bronze medal game, thus obtaining a final ranking of 4th for the tournament.;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Bronze medal game
Weightlifting
;MenWrestling
;Men's freestyle- Michel Batista originally finished fifth, but in November 2016, he was promoted to bronze due to disqualification of Taimuraz Tigiyev.