Santo Domingo, host of the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games, has seen a major shakeup in the athletics medal standings after competition authorities upheld an appeal from the Dominican Republic, overturning an earlier disqualification of the country’s 4×100-meter mixed relay team and officially restoring their gold medal win.
The Dominican foursome — made up of sprinters Mayobanex de Óleo, Fiordaliza Cofil, José González and Liranyi Alonso — originally crossed the finish line in first place at the Félix Sánchez Olympic Stadium, clocking a winning time of 40.89 seconds. But just minutes after the race concluded, event officials made the sudden call to disqualify the team over unproven claims of an illegal baton exchange. Following that initial ruling, Jamaica was hastily elevated to gold position, with Cuba moved to second and Puerto Rico to third.
Refusing to accept the outcome that stripped their athletes of a hard-earned victory, the Dominican national delegation launched an immediate formal challenge to the disqualification. The delegation called for a full, thorough review of both the official race footage and the original findings made by event judges to verify whether any rule violation had actually occurred.
After completing a comprehensive technical review of all available evidence, competition authorities overturned the initial disqualification and formally reinstated the Dominican Republic team as the rightful gold medal winners. In the adjusted official standings, Jamaica (41.06 seconds) was reclassified to take the silver medal, while Cuba (41.18 seconds) claimed the bronze. Puerto Rico slipped to fourth place, and Mexico remains the only team disqualified from the final race.
This corrected ruling pushes the Dominican Republic’s total gold medal count at the 2026 Games up to 24, adding a long-awaited home-soil title to the host nation’s impressive tournament performance.