Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Former Cuban President Fidel Castro blamed corrupt referees for the nation's poor performance at the Beijing Olympics, where it won two gold medals compared with nine in the previous Athens Olympics.

Two Cuban boxers were ``robbed'' in the semifinal matches, Castro wrote in a column published on the Web site of the daily government newspaper, Granma. He also defended Cuban taekwondo fighter Angel Valodia Matos, who was banned for life from the sport after kicking a Swedish referee in the face.

``He couldn't control himself,'' Castro said, adding that the athlete was ``angry'' because of attempts to ``bribe'' his coach. Castro didn't elaborate.

Cuba's medal count also suffered because the government devoted fewer resources to sports than richer nations with larger populations.

``We can't be strong in every sport like the United States, which has at least 30 times our population,'' wrote Castro.

Castro said Cuba must prepare better for the 2012 Olympics in London. He warned athletes traveling for those games would face ``European chauvinism, corruption among judges, the buying of muscles and brains, high costs and a strong dosage of racism.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Goodman in Rio de Janeiro at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 25, 2008 16:21 EDT