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Teofilo Stevenson
Milestone (age 20)
Won Olympic gold medal in heavyweight boxing at the 1972 Munich Olympics at age 20, followed by World Championship gold in 1974 and a second Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics at age 24.
Stevenson was born in Puerto Padre, Cuba, and began boxing at age nine under trainer John Herrera at a makeshift gym, following his father's brief boxing experience. His talent drew the attention of the Cuban state sports system, where he was trained by Soviet coach Andrei Chervonenko and Cuban coach Alcides Sagarra. He won his first Olympic gold at 20 in 1972.
Starting point
Born in 1952 in Puerto Padre, Cuba; began boxing as a teenager under the Cuban amateur boxing system; father was a fisherman.
Current position (2012 · deceased)
Died on June 11, 2012 at age 60 from a heart attack; final status: Cuban boxing legend and three-time Olympic gold medalist who never turned professional.
How this path compounded
01 Starting advantages
9/24 starting-position score
Strongest documented signals: Elite institution pipeline, Dedicated mentor / coach, Parent / family domain.
Describes the starting position, not what the person later made of it.
Cohort percentile: 65
02 Built or converted leverage
13/25 multiplying-capacity score
Strongest observed levers:Domain proximity, Started serious reps before 20, Prior reps.
Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Cohort percentile: 80
03 Compounding trajectory
7 documented steps
The timeline below shows the sequence of work and transitions around the selected early milestone. It is evidence of a path, not proof that every step was necessary.
Milestone at age 20
04 Observed career standing
T1 · Global icon
Legendary or globally iconic career standing. The tier summarizes documented career recognition through the data cutoff—not Teofilo Stevenson's worth or future potential.
Question four · where did the leverage come from?
Teofilo Stevenson's leverage provenance
Each non-zero lever gets a best-supported origin, evidence signals, and confidence. Unresolved is the honest default when the biography cannot distinguish self-built, advantage-enabled, earned, external, or mixed.
Started serious reps before 201/1
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (2/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Domain proximity2/2
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Direct domain exposure (1/2)Parent / family domain (1/2)Frontier geography (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Prior reps2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (2/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Scarce skill depth2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Rare early tools (1/2)Dedicated mentor / coach (2/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Elite ecosystem network2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Parent / family domain (1/2)Elite institution pipeline (2/2)Frontier geography (1/2)
Concentration intensity2/3
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Dedicated mentor / coach (2/2)
Complementary team1/2
Advantage-enabledmedium confidence
One or more documented starting advantages plausibly enabled this lever.
Elite institution pipeline (2/2)
Structural wave / timing1/3
Externalmedium confidence
A structural wave is external to the person, even when their position improved access to it.
Frontier geography (1/2)
This is a bounded inference from the current annotations—not a claim about private effort, merit, or the percentage of Teofilo Stevenson's outcome attributable to any origin.
Luck is not a leftover score.Structural luck, Encounter luck, Event luck, Outcome variance can change every arrow in the path. This successful-only dataset cannot observe the near-identical paths that did not break through, so luck stays visible and unscored.
Within Athletes, Teofilo Stevenson's starting-advantage total is at the 65th percentile. Separately, their built or converted leverage total is at the 80th percentile. Other T1 profiles average 8.9 / 24 starting advantage and 13.6 / 25 leverage. Similar scores appear in other tiers, so these figures describe positioning—not a cause.
Trajectory
- 1970 · age 18
National boxing champion
Won the Cuban national heavyweight championship, establishing himself as Cuba's top amateur boxer.
- 1972 · age 20
Olympic gold at Munich
Won the heavyweight boxing gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics, defeating Ion Alexe of Romania in the final.
- 1974 · age 22
World Amateur Championship gold
Won gold at the first World Amateur Boxing Championships in Havana, cementing his status as the world's best amateur heavyweight.
- 1976 · age 24
Second Olympic gold at Montreal
Won his second Olympic gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, defeating Mircea Şimon of Romania in the final.
- 1980 · age 28
Third Olympic gold at Moscow
Won his third Olympic gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, becoming one of only three boxers to win three Olympic golds.
- 1986 · age 34
Retirement from boxing
Retired from competitive boxing, having never turned professional despite lucrative offers, remaining loyal to the Cuban revolution.
- 2012 · age 60
Death
Died on June 11, 2012 in Havana from a heart attack at age 60, mourned as one of Cuba's greatest sporting heroes.
Primary leverage engine
Physical talent and state boxing pipeline
Physical / athletic talent
Secondary engine
Early specialization
Built/converted leverage
13 / 25
evidence: Medium
Built or converted leverage
Multiplying capacity documented later in the path. Measures what was present, not whether it was inherited, earned, self-built, external, or mixed.
Started serious reps before 20
1/1
Elite ecosystem network
2/3
Structural wave / timing
1/3
Concentration intensity
2/3
Starting-advantage scores (0–2 each)
Access or conditions documented near the beginning of the path. Zero means "no clear evidence in reviewed sources," not "advantage was absent."
Family financial platform
0/2
Parent / family domain
1/2
Inherited audience / network
0/2
Elite institution pipeline
2/2
Dedicated mentor / coach
2/2
Exceptional peer / cofounder
0/2
Direct domain exposure
1/2
Prodigy / innate ability
1/2
Adversity / constraint catalyst
0/2
Family context
Son of Teofilo Stevenson Patterson, an immigrant from Saint Vincent who gave English lessons and boxed briefly, and Dolores Lawrence, a native Cuban whose parents were immigrants from Saint Kitts. The family had meager earnings.
Parent / family domain
His father boxed seven times before becoming disillusioned by the corrupt payment structure, and his father's involvement in boxing led young Teofilo to the sport.
Archetype & tags
Elite performance pipelineCuban boxing systemearly startOlympic goldstate sports pipeline
Evidence summary
Teofilo Stevenson began boxing at age nine in Puerto Padre, Cuba, under trainer John Herrera, following his father's brief boxing experience. His physical abilities drew the attention of the Cuban state sports system, where he was trained by Soviet coach Andrei Chervonenko and Cuban coach Alcides Sagarra. He won his first Olympic gold medal at the 1972 Munich Games at age 20, followed by World Championship gold in 1974 and a second Olympic gold in 1976 at age 24. He became one of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals.
advantage confidence: Medium · source count: 3 · audit: not_independently_audited · status: subagent_researched_beta
Sources
Related — same primary engine