Tim Almond

Red Ken in Cuba

Mr Livingstone said he wanted to learn more about Cuba’s successful sports programmes ahead of London hosting the Games in 2012.

"Clearly they’re doing something right here about engaging their young people in sport, and that’s what I’m really interested in finding out about."

Here’s the simple answer for you, Ken: Cuba’s a communist dictatorship, so there’s no channel out of amateur sport into professional sport. Cassius Clay and George Foreman only got one gold each, because after that, they went pro and stopped collecting medals. That’s not an option in Cuba (and I guess that the state probably keeps them as athletes)

Looking at the list of 2004 cuban gold medals, 5 of the 9 were for boxing. Compare the ages of most olympian boxers with the cubans. Clay and Foreman had gone pro before they were 21. The Cubans were still amateur after 24.

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Tags: Politics, Sport //