Welterweight (≤67 kilograms), Men

The Olympic Games were not kind to Juan Hernández Sierra. The Cuban was the premier welterweight of the 1990s, lost only one bout at the 5 World Championships held during the decade but was somehow always frustrated when he fought at the Olympics. In Barcelona he was the victim of a major upset when defeated by the unheralded Irishman Michael Carruth in the gold medal match.

Hernandez again reached the Olympic final in Atlanta where his opponent was to be Russia’s Oleg Saitov, a man he had comfortably beaten on his way to retaining his world title in 1995. Saitov’s masterstroke was to change tactics midway through the final and back away from Hernandez in an attempt to draw him forward and open up the Cuban to counter-punching. This gave the Russian a three-point lead after two rounds and although Hernandez mounted a frantic effort in the final round he could not make up the points deficit. The verdict was not universally popular inside the arena.

This was the first major title of Saitov’s career but by no means the last. He retained his Olympic title in 2000 and only narrowly failed to reach a 3rd Olympic final in 2004. In addition he won 2 World championships and a European Championships.