By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) -Cuba's Erislandy Alvarez broke the hearts of a delirious French crowd when he beat local favourite Sofiane Oumiha by split decision in the men's lightweight boxing final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Alvarez's win meant that Cuba's boxers, who had won just one bronze medal in Paris before Wednesday's final, avoided their worst performance since the 1968 Olympics in Mexico when they collected only two silvers.
The crowd let out an ear-splitting roar when Oumiha entered a boiling-hot arena at Roland Garros and all the spectators were either standing or on the edge of their seats by the time the Frenchman, in a lung-busting final effort, took the final round.
However, Oumiha, already a silver medallist in Rio in 2016, paid the price for a poor opening round, which Alvarez won 5-0.
Triple world champion Oumiha, back in the amateur rings after a brief spell in the professional ranks where he won all his five fights, won two rounds 3-2 but the overall decision was 3-2 in favour of Alvarez.
When the decision was announced, the crowd briefly booed before chanting 'Sofiane, Sofiane!' as the Frenchman hung his head.
"I wanted to finish on a high note but it didn't work out the way I wanted. Life will go on," Oumiha said.
"I wanted to do well, I wanted to give it my all but it didn't happen today. I gave myself the means to get this far, but I can't be happy with a silver medal."
Alvarez, who was beaten by Oumiha in the final of the 2023 world championships, let out his joy with some shadow boxing in the ring before celebrating a deserved victory with his camp.
"I went out to give it all, to enjoy, to dance, to give a show and that's what we did," Alvarez said.
Oumiha had been looking to become the seventh French boxer to win an Olympic gold medal after Paul Fritsch in 1920, Jean Despeaux and Roger Michelot in 1936, Brahim Asloum (2000), Estelle Mossely and Tony Yoka (2016).
Canada's Wyatt Sanford and Georgian Lasha Guruli claimed the two bronze medals on offer after losing their semi-final bouts against Oumiha and Alvarez respectively.
In the other final on Wednesday, Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak beat Kazakhstan's Nurbek Oralbay by a split decision to win middleweight gold.
"I'm ecstatic. Since I was a boy I've dreamed of being on this step of the podium," Khyzhniak said.
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, one of two boxers at the centre of a gender dispute, beat Turkey's Esra Yildiz by unanimous decision in the women's featherweight semi-finals and faces Poland's Julia Szeremeta in the final.
Defending super heavyweight champion Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan won his semi-final by unanimous decision. He takes on Spain's Ayoub Ghadfa in the final.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot and Aadi Nair; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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