René Montero Rosales (born November 23, 1979, in Santiago de Cuba) is a retired amateur Cuban freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's flyweight category.[1] He has been named a 2002 World freestyle wrestling champion; a silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games, and later represented his nation Cuba at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Throughout his sporting career, Montero has been training under his personal coach and mentor Filiberto Delgado for CEAR Cuba.

René Montero
Personal information
Full nameRené Montero Rosales
Nationality Cuba
Born (1979-11-23) 23 November 1979 (age 45)
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight55 kg (121 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleFreestyle
ClubCEAR Cuba
CoachFiliberto Delgado
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Cuba
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Tehran 55 kg
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 2003 Santo Domingo 55 kg
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Cartagena 55 kg

Montero made sporting headlines in 2002, when he strongly defeated Azerbaijani wrestler and defending Olympic champion Namig Abdullayev for the gold medal n the men's 55 kg class at the World Championships in Tehran. The following year, at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Montero could not generate a similar record from his previous tournament after losing out a final match to U.S. wrestler Stephen Abas with a classification score of 1–3.[2][3]

Montero qualified for Cuba in the men's 55 kg class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens by placing first and receiving an automatic berth from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia.[4][5] He was placed by a random draw into a three-man preliminary pool against his formidable opponent Abas and Moldova's Ghenadie Tulbea. Montero easily outclassed Tulbea (0–5) in their opening pool match, before he could not recover from a setback with another tight, arduous loss to Abas (3–4), finishing only in second place with a record of eight technical points and thirteenth overall in the final standings.[6][7]

At the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia, Montero sealed a success with a prestigious triumph and a gold medal over the host nation's Freddy Serrano in the same division with a technical score of 7–0 and a classification tally of 3–0.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "René Montero". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  2. ^ Fuller, John (9 August 2003). "Abas, Williams, Cormier and McCoy claim gold medals at the Pan American Games". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  3. ^ Quiñones Díaz, Pupo (2004). "Lucha libre cubana estará bien representada en Atenas" [Cuban Wrestling will be well represented in Athens] (in Spanish). Cuba Hora. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Two Americans gain Olympic wrestling berth". USA Today. 1 February 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  5. ^ "More Cuban Athletes Qualify for Athens 2004 Olympics". Havana Journal. 10 February 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  6. ^ Mihoches, Gary (27 August 2004). "Sanderson, McCoy win opening matches in Olympics". USA Today. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Wrestling: Men's Freestyle 55kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Barrida doradas" [Golden sweep] (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  9. ^ Martín, Raiko (29 July 2006). "Cuatro coronas cubanas en la lucha estilo libre" [Four Cuban crowns in freestyle wrestling] (in Spanish). Juventud Rebelde. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
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