Havana -Cuban sports will need to make significant effort in the new cycle which will culminate in Tokyo 2020, according to Alberto Juantorena the double Olympic champion in the 400 and 800 meters in Montreal 1976.

'I am quite sure that it is necessary to strengthen the base, increase mass sport and provide sport equipment, which is very important,' said Alberto Juantorena, who is currently the president of the Cuban Athletics Federation.

'We have what is fundamental: the Revolution, the social system and the legacy of Commander in Chief Fidel,' said the former athlete, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee and vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

'Cuba, has many and great possibilities to rescue what we used to have in terms of sports,' said Juantorena, the first athlete in history to win the 400 and 800 meters in an Olympic Games, a feat which has not been repeated.

'But, sometimes, people minimize our achievements, being among the top 20 countries in the world and winning five gold medals in the last Olympic Games is a tremendous success,' he said.

'When the medal record is seen at a global level, nations with much greater economic power and many more millions of inhabitants than Cuba, did not win five gold medals in the Olympics.' he added.

'Despite this, we have to continue to rescue something that gave tremendous strength to the Cuban sports movement for more than 40 or 50 years, which is mass sports practice.' he concluded.

Thanks to the principle of seeing sport as a right of the people, Cuba has accumulated 220 medals in Olympic Games over the past 50 years (78 gold, 68 silver and 74 bronze) and it does so in sports as diverse as boxing, volleyball, Judo, athletics, wrestling, taekwondo, shooting, baseball, fencing, weightlifting, basketball, cycling, boating and swimming.