Sports

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Cuban narrative and testimonies of travelers who visited the Island during the centuries of colonial rule agree about the popularity of horse racing and the (non-sports) corrupt chance and betting games that consumed the fortunes and time of an important part of the population. This situation was analyzed for the first half of the nineteenth century by the erudite Cuban humanist José Antonio Saco in his treatise of denunciation entitled El juego y la vagancia en Cuba. Saco also commented on other social evils derived from this situation, such as the extensively popular

"game" of cockfighting, deeply-rooted but not limited to the peasants of the country since it gained the interest of a higher social group: the decorated counts, Creole lords and commanders in chief of the colony, such as Dionisio Vives.

In his denunciation, Saco stated that it was necessary "to have a Revolution of habits and customs," to which the humanist José Ramón Betancourt added with sorrow that while the academies and literary circles were empty, the game houses and billiard halls were full. In such a suffocating social context, sport could only be accommodated if it was accompanied by the possibility of personal profit. Whereas for the colonial government the proliferation of gambling in Cuba entailed a political nature by being a dissociating factor, convenient for colonial domination by diverting the will, intentions and resources of people who could otherwise dedicate themselves to liberation purposes considered dangerous for Spain.

For that reason cockfighting had enormous cultural resonance in Cuba up to the twentieth century, Its generalized practice originated phrases such as: gallo de pelea (a fighting cock) to designate a brave and decided man, or se hundio la valla with reference to the place where the cockfights were held, to describe various kinds of failure, economic, political, emotional. With origins as far back as Ancient Greece, bloody sports like cockfighting and bullfighting came to Cuba and other parts of Spanish-America from Spain. Bullfighting did not attain as much popularity on the island as cockfighting.
 

In 1789, the Spanish traveler Buenaventura Pascual Ferrer compared the selection, care and training for cockfighting in Cuba with the training of horses in Europe: "... just as in Europe some persons own great number of stables and entrust servants with the care of their horses, in Havana there are plenty of people whose servants look after their roosters with great care." Such comparison among the rich groups could be extended in Cuba to include all groups since the poor, white as well as black (including slaves) devoted much time to training roosters for the sport of cockfighting, making it the most democratic activity in the country. The care and training of a fine fighting rooster was not as onerous as owning and caring for a horse or a bull, but to own the winning rooster in a cockfight brought much social prestige as well as economic gain.
 

Physical education, including exercise and sports, began as a private initiative during the latter third of the nineteenth century at selective Havana schools such as San Cristóbal, Buenavista, San Fernando, Humanidades de Jesus, Cubanos de Conocimientos utiles and Matanzas ' La Empresa. All worked under the principle of mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body). In these physical education programs, participated many eminent Cubans: José de la Luz y Caballero, the Guiteras brothers, Domingo of Monte and José Silverio Jorrín. Sports included gymnastics, fencing and riding. In 1839, we find documents announcing the establishment of gymnasiums. Rafael Castro founded the Gimnasio Nacional, the first one, endorsed by the Sección de Educación de la Sociedad Económica de Amigos de País. For its facilities, a set of foils "for practicing fencing" was acquired in Europe. Many other announcements followed, promoting high school riding, weight-lifting and combat sports such as the practice of foil fencing, sabers and other thrust weapons. In 1846, Cienfuegos opened the first such school in the interior of the island. In 1848 Amadeo Chaumon founded and directed Havana's Escuela de Equitación, with the help of José María Zayas, and in 1856 the Escuela Normal de Gimnástica, with the collaboration of Dr. Ramón Zambrana. The latter included a program of medical and orthopedic gymnastics for the treatment of deviations of the spine, paralysis, etc. Another first was its offering proper attention to young ladies "emphasizing all the honor and the gentleness that they deserve." In 1866 gymnastics promoted the use of trapeze, rings, bars, parallel bars and "dangerous ladders" [sic]. On October 10, 1868 Cuba's Guerra de los Diez Años (Ten Year War) began. Not so coincidentally, during 1870-1871, José Vall and Olegario Berenguer, directors of several Spanish establishments for military training in fencing and gymnastics, arrived in Havana. Their presence in the capital during these years of war in Cuba demonstrates a change of character in Cuban sports, now clearly more political and military than athletic or medical. They came to train the volunteer militias that supported the colonial status quo. Back in August of 1869, Tirso Arregui had begun offering, at the Casino Español de la Habana, training in the use of "foils, Spanish saber, bars, Spanish stick, clubs, boxing and daggers." These courses were aimed at volunteers and sons of volunteers who had an increasing interest in exercises in "fencing, sharp weapons and firearms." The official pro-government Diario de la Marina granted much attention and importance to these studies and practices: "the need of all good Spaniards to devote much time to training with weapons instead of using their time for study, for commerce or industry."

These interests were not limited to the Spaniards. Attracted for similar reasons but with differing political aspirations, rebellious Cuban youth would gather at Havana's Acera del Louvre. Numerous announcements in the press recommended the above studies and practices at private gymnasiums, seeking students to train "to face the excesses of the volunteers" or, more clearly, to train for insurgency with the use of these arms and later the famous machete.
 

This phase of the war ended in 1878 without Cuba attaining its independence. During the following years several new athletic clubs were founded: Club de Esgrima (fencing) in 1880, Club de Ajedrez (chess) in 1885 and a skaters' club at the Sociedad de la Caridad in 1886 at the Cerro neighborhood in Havana. In later years these establishments produced Cuban world champions such as Ramón Fonst Segundo in fencing, José Raúl Capablanca in chess, the brothers Francisco and Aurelio Nogane in wrestling and Alfredo de Oro in billiards.
 

Private schools came into being for physical education of rich girls. Mrs. Galarraga de Kruger and Mrs. María Luisa Dolz founded one of these schools for girls in 1886, specializing in "calisthenics and Hall gymnastics." That same year, the Havana Yacht Club and the Vedado Tennis Club were founded, marking the American influence under which Cuban sports would function during the last two decades of that century. At the Havana Yacht Club, rich men participated in nautical sports, swimming and yachting, played football and, above all, baseball. The first baseball clubs, the Habana and the Almendares, started operating during 1873-1874. They soon became very popular, making baseball the national sport by 1880. Unlike most of the other sports on the island, all social classes could play ball.
 

Between 1898 and 1902, the years of the first military occupation of Cuba by the United States, the practice of sports, gymnastics and physical education primarily, was included for the first time in all levels of education of the country: private, public, secular or religious. The University of Havana, along with private clubs, provided a steady pool of athletes during the first decades of republican Cuba. Under North American influence, "field days" were organized at the University beginning in 1905, where students competed against athletes from the Vedado Tennis Club in the following events: 50, 100, 440 and 880 yards, 100 yards hurdles 4 x 220 yards relay, high jump, long jump and weight toss. That was the first of many subsequent official athletic events in Cuba. In the 1927 Caribbean Field Day, Pepe Barrientos began to be called "Track Lightning" when he equaled the 100 meters world record. He later established the world record of 16.7 seconds at a special 175 yards event.

Like Barrientos, other Cuban athletes distinguished themselves internationally. Cuban ballplayers made it to the Major League in the United States. Boxing champions like Kid Gavilán and especially the stylist Kid Chocolate were internationally acclaimed. The fencer Ramón Fonst became the first Latin American athlete to win Olympic gold in Paris in 1900. He was already the European champion in fencing. His Olympic performance improved in Saint Louis in 1904, when he became (at age 22) the only fencer in the world with two gold medals (foil and sword) at the Olympic games. He is clearly among the chosen few at the very top of Cuban sport for all time. Otilio (Cappy) Campuzano, another one of the great Cuban athletes of the first half of the twentieth century, was a coach in the gymnasium at the Colegio de Belén from 1928 to 1958. An all-around athlete, Campuzano competed mainly in basketball, but also in baseball, soccer, softball, crew, and track and field. He competed at international events, including the Olympic games. He was a coach and an athlete at the University of Havana, the Havana Yacht Club and the Athletic Club of Cuba. He competed in 24 national championships and 16 regattas in crews of four and eight oars and even in singles. He participated in 25 track and field competitions, finishing first seven times. He was a Pentathlon champion and was nine times named an All Star in basketball.
 

Many other excellent Cuban sport personalities could be mentioned. Two of them deserve special attention. Félix (Andarín) Carvajal Soto was a cherished and frequently seen walker, whistling through the streets of Havana at a time when endurance races were fashionable. Without the necessary shoes and equipment he managed to attend the Olympic games in Saint Louis in 1904 (where Fonst had his brilliant performance). Andarín was not a marathon winner because, after leading for 30 kilometers, hunger overtook him. He picked and ate some green apples along the way, causing cramps that relegated him to the fourth position. He overcame his misfortune by winning a total of 49 medals in matches in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Turkey.
 

And, of course, we cannot fail to mention the Havana chess genius José Raúl Capablanca. Capablanca began his triumphant career as a 12-year-old when he beat the Cuban champion. Considered a "natural chess talent, Capablanca beat the United States champion at the Manhattan Chess Club in 1909. In 1911 he challenged world champion Lasker to a match that took place in St. Petersburg. Capablanca lost 13.5 to 13.0. Between 1914 and 1924, Capablanca only lost one game, but he still had to wait seven years, until 1920, before Lasker decided to face him again. Finally the confrontation took place in Havana in 1921, with a definitive triumph by Capablanca, now recognized as the world champion. He lost the title to Alekhine in Buenos Aires, in 1927, during a match that lasted 73 days and 34 games. At the death of Capablanca in 1942 Alekhine said, "With his death we have lost a chess genius that we will never ever see again."
 

At the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, sports in Cuba were going through a deep crisis, a consequence of the generalized chaotic conditions under the defeated dictatorship of the general. After a brief period of time in which sports came under the direction of the Dirección General de Deportes, the INDER (Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación) was created in 1961. It addressed many strategic and organizational issues and developed criteria and training for the improvement of athletics. The INDER showed its effectiveness in subsequent years.

The INDER's main objective was, and continues to be: "to incorporate the masses into a program of physical education, into sports and healthful recreation, in order to guarantee, by means of physical exercise as a complement of formal education, a harmonic development of the new generations." This was an ambitious project, not a new one but a feasible one, in a new national situation, under the determined and active direction of the State. It entailed a selective process, at all different levels of public instruction, "for the sustained upgrading of the competitiveness of Cuban sports at all levels, regional and international." To work on these objectives, a national search was undertaken to select new professors, instructors and activists. Volunteer Sports Councils were organized by provinces and municipalities at work centers, universities, military units, farm cooperatives and urban neighborhoods. The principle of multiple-use resources was emphasized (fields, gymnasiums) to facilitate the participation of all interested persons in practicing sports, with the necessary equipment and supplies and under the expert direction of professors and instructors. Physical education became a required subject at all levels of instruction, and a national system of sport schools, including advanced training, was created: the Escuela Superior de Perfeccionamiento Atlético and the Instituto Superior de Educacion Física. A national sport industry began operations.
 

In 1963 the National Scholastic Games for the promotion of sports were established, with tests of physical efficiency, popular juvenile and military exercises, and various plans for excursions and street games for children. In addition, Cuba has attained a high level of development in sport medicine, placing it among the most advanced countries, with an increasing process of introduction and assimilation of the latest advances of science and of sport techniques. The National Scholastic Games mark the collaboration of the Ministry of Education and the INDER, with the massive participation of schools from throughout the country in eight sports, including chess. In 1964, with the help of the German Democratic Republic, 200 Cubans were intensively trained at German facilities. Likewise, in Cuba, a month-long summer course was held for 2,800 elementary school teachers in order to prepare them to lead physical education classes. In the mountainous zones of the country, 404 sports facilities were constructed.

Such measures turned Cuba, beginning at the Cali 1971 Pan-American Games, into the second continental sport power determined by the number of medals, after the United States. This success relied, for many years, on the support of the European countries of the socialist bloc, as well as on the Popular and Democratic Republic of Korea, for judo and soccer, and on the People's Republic of China for basketball. The disappearance of the socialist bloc in Europe, especially the Soviet Union, determined that the financing for the Cuban participation in international events was exclusively now a national responsibility. In turn, Cuba shares with other countries, mainly in Latin America, its experience and its resources in sport matters: in 1995 more than 800 Cuban trainers and first-level specialists collaborated in more than 30 countries. For the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 45 Cuban technicians and trainers worked in 22 countries: Mexico (eight), Argentina and Guatemala (five) and Venezuela, Peru and Namibia (three). Of these 45 trainers, 14 were boxing specialists. In 2001, the International Sports School, established in Cuba to share in solidarity with others, planned for an enrollment of 1,000 students from 60 countries.
 

The concern by Cuban sports and state authorities about the problems of illegal doping, a concern shared by many other countries, has led to the construction of a modern laboratory, a facility that has requested accreditation by the International Olympic Committee in order to make its findings legal for the benefit of Cuba and other countries of the region. The socalled "High Yield Sports Pyramid" in Cuba, which culminates with the National Scholastic Games, has attained excellent results. The "Pyramid" produced Olympic and world champions such as Maria Caridad Colón, Alberto Juantorena, Javier Sotomayor, Roberto Balado, Héctor Vinent, Félix Savón and Héctor Milián. Eighty-five percent of the Cuban athletes who competed at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 came from these games. We will devote extensive attention to Cuba's participation in the Olympic Games, the Pan-American Games and the Central America and Caribbean Games, in order to trace the rise of Cuban athletic achievement since 1970.

At the Eighth World Track and Field Championship in Edmonton (2001), Cuba placed fourth, after the United States, Russia and Kenya. In that competition the Cuban Iván Pedroso obtained his fourth consecutive world title in the long jump. By points Cuba has come from 22nd place in Helsinki (1983), with 11 points, to seventh place with 61 points.
 

In boxing, in Belfast, Cuba reached first place by accumulated points (62), followed by Russia (34), the Ukraine (30), Turkey (20), Rumania (19), Uzbekistan (18), France (14), the United States (14), Bulgaria (13), England (12) and Ireland (12). In boxing Cuba won gold in the weight divisions of 48 kg, 54 kg, 60 kg, 63.5 kg, 67 kg, 71 kg and 91 kg. Cuba lost in the 51 kg, 57 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg and 91 kg and above divisions. At the 20th Judo World Championship, celebrated in Munich in 2001 with the participation of 93 countries, Cuba obtained another fourth place, preceded by Japan, Russia and France. Cuba was also recognized as the fourth place country among the top 10 countries in the last decade of twentieth century in women's and men's judo, the women holding second place and the men ninth place. At Birmingham in 1999, the Cuban women won three gold, two silver and one bronze medal, and the men won one gold and one bronze. That amounted to second place overall to locate itself in second position, behind Japan.
 

Two other sports in which the performance of Cuba has been brilliant in the last decades have been women's volleyball, with the "Morenas del Caribe" prevailing in many international arenas, and baseball, the national sport, with the United States as the most formidable opponent.
 

From the Paris Olympics (1900) until the Mexico Olympics (1968), Cuba obtained a total of eight medals. From the Munich Olympics (1972) until Sydney (2000), Cuba won a total of 126 medals, including 51 gold.
 

In Sydney (2000), with 80 countries competing, Cuba placed eighth and was at the top of the Latin American list, followed by Brazil with six silver and six bronze. The 11 gold medals were won in boxing (four), women's judo (two, taekwondo (one), track and field (two), women's volleyball (one) and Greco-Roman wrestling (one).

To the legendary performance of Ramón Fonst, with gold in more than one Olympic Games, we should add the boxers Teófilo Stevenson, gold in Munich (1972), Montreal (1976) and Moscow (1980); Ariel Hernandez Azcuy, gold in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996) and Félix Savón Fabré, gold in Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000). Stevenson also won gold at the Pan-Americans in Mexico (1975) and the Central American Games in Habana (1982). At Munich (1972), Stevenson received the Val Baker Cup as the best technical boxer at the Olympics, a distinction also granted to super heavyweight Roberto Balado at Barcelona (1992). Balado died prematurely in an automobile accident during the Pan-Americans in Habana (1991). Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, granted Stevenson the Olympic order, the IOC's highest honorary award. Félix Savón holds world records in the 91 kg weight class in addition to his Olympic gold, other top places at the Central American Games in Mexico (1990) and Ponce (1993), and at the Pan-Americans in Mar del Plata (1995), Indianapolis (1987) and Habana (1991).
 

Other Cuban athletes with extraordinary performances at the Olympic, Pan-American and Central American Games can still be added to our list such as Alberto Juantorena, world record and gold medals at the Montreal Olympics (1976) in the 400 and 800 meters, Cuba's first gold ever in track and field. He also triumphed with gold at the World University Games in Moscow and at the Central American Games in Santo Domingo (1974), Medellín (1978) and Habana (1982). Javier Sotomayor, the greatest high jumper of all-time, won gold in Barcelona (1992) and silver at Sydney (2000). The world champion at Stuttgart (1993) and Athens (1997), he holds the world record of 2.45 meters and 2.43 meters (indoors). He has won the top place at the Pan-American and Central American Games, also establishing records. The sprinter Ana Fidelia Quirot, a specialist at 400 and 800 meters, won four consecutive gold medals from 1987 to 1999. She holds the North and Central American record for the 800 meters at 1:54:44. She won gold at the Central American Games in Santiago de los Caballeros (1986) in the 400 and 800 meters, at the World Cup in Barcelona (1989) and at the Good Will Games in Seattle.

Cuba at the Pan-American Games. The Pan-American Games began in 1951 and are considered the continental games par excellence, a comprehensive competition, that had been proposed for many years, with its origins in Central American and Caribbean Games. World War Il frustrated temporarily its establishment, until 1948, at the Olympic Games in London, when it was agreed to celebrate the first Pan-Americans in Buenos Aires since Argentina was the main promoter of this competition. Initially they took place every four years in nine sports, before the Olympic Games. By countries, the following table shows the top seven countries and the number of medals at each game and the total number of medals.
 

Beginning with the Pan-Americans in Cali (1971), Cuba holds second place among countries in the region.
 

It is not possible, in this brief space, to mention all the achievements of Cuban sports at the Pan-Americans, but we should mention: Rafael Fortún in the 100 and 200 meters in Buenos Aires (1951); Berta Díaz in 80 meter hurdles in Mexico (1955) and Chicago (1959); Enrique Figarola, the main Cuban sprinter of the 1960s, in Sao Paulo (1963); Pedro Perez Duenas, with a jump of 17.4 meters that made him the first world record holder for Cuba, in Cali (1971); Rolando Garbey, with a third consecutive title in boxing, in Mexico (1975), where seven other Cubans, including Orestes Pedroso and Teófilo Stevenson, won gold; Ana Fidelia Quirot in 400 and 800 meters, in Indianapolis (1987), where Cuban boxers won 10 out of 10 possible gold medals, with outstanding performances by Olympic champions such as Angel Espinosa and Félix Savón. At Habana (1991), Ana Fidelia Quirot again distinguished herself, and Cuban boxers won 11 out of 12 gold medals, with Olympic champions Félix Savón and Roberto Balado leading the way. At the Habana games, Cuba placed first, surpassing the United States by the number of medals. It included victories by Javier Sotomayor in the high jump, a total of 42 medals in athletics, gold in baseball, an outstanding performance by gymnast Eric López, and three Pan-American records in weight-lifting, including a world record in the 76 kg division by Pablo Lara. The women won gold in volleyball for the sixth consecutive time and Iván Pedroso made the longest jump at 8.50 meters. In subsequent Pan-American Games, Mar del Plata (1995) and Winnipeg (1999), Cuba continued adding triumphs, although at Winnipeg, Canada surpassed Cuba 196 to 156 in the number of medals. Cuba, however, led in the gold 69 to 66. In Pan-American baseball, Cuba won gold in Buenos Aires (1951), Sao Paulo (1963), Cali (1971), Mexico (1975), San Juan (1979) and Caracas (1987), beating the United States, its main baseball opponent at the Pan-American as well as at the Olympic Games.

Established by an agreement of the International Olympic Committee in Paris, in 1924, by the proposal signed by Mexico, Cuba and Guatemala, the Central American and Caribbean Games are the oldest modern regional games in the world. At the first game in Mexico (1926), only the three promoting countries participated: Mexico with 136 athletes, Cuba with 113 and Guatemala with 20. They competed in seven sports: athletics, basket-ball, baseball, fencing, swimming, tennis and shooting. Women did not participate at these first games. Competition in many other sports was added in later years. By 1993 competitions were held in 31 events (22 in men, nine in women), with the participation of almost all the countries of the region. Until the 10th competition, San Juan (1966), Mexico maintained the hold on first place by the number of medals, losing that position to Cuba starting in Panama (1970).

At the first games in Mexico (1926), Ramón Fonst was the top name from Cuba, winning in three fencing events: foil, sword and saber. Leonel (Bebito) Smith won three medals in swimming. In Habana (1930) the incomparable Fonst continued collecting gold for Cuba in fencing staying undefeated in foil and sword. Smith and Pablo La Rosa won two gold medals each in swimming.

Other excellent Cuban athletes at the Central Americans were: Rafael Fortún in Barranquilla (1946) in the 100 and 200 meters. He repeated his victories in Guatemala (1950), where Cuba won all the medals in gymnastics. In Mexico 1954), after winning at the Pan-Americans, Fortún prevailed again in the 100 meters. Cuba did not attend the Central Americans held at Caracas in 1959 because of the overthrow of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. Kingston (1962) marked the appearance of Miguelina Cobián, a new promise for the Cuban sports. There, Lázaro Betancourt established a record for 110 meters hurdles and Enrique Samuells did so in the hammer throw. In San Juan (1966), under tense circumstances caused by hostility towards the Cuban Revolution, where the Cuban delegation arrived aboard the ship Cerro Pelao, more medals were wot than in Kingston (1962). This was a presage of many Cuban future victories. In San Juan, runners Enrique Figuerola, Miguelina Cobián, Enrique Samuells, Hilda Ramirez and Caridad Omen had stellar performances.
 

At subsequent Central American Games, Cuba was a strong presence with Pan-American and Olympic champions on the team. In judo, Driulys González, who won gold at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996) and silver at Sydney (2000), was a Pan-American titleholder and a winner at the World University Games in the 1.56 kg classification.
 

On a white linen cloth, the Olympic flag displays five interlaced hoops of blue, yellow, black, green and red colors, the colors that predominate in the flags of the world. Cuba duly defended the colors of its national flag, blue, white and red, with dignity and valor.