"Cuba's sport system is one of the most advanced around the world...
Cuban athletes rise to the challenge in cup games," JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH, former President of the International Olympic Committee.
By CARLOS GONZÁLEZ REGO

The success of sports in Cuba has to do not only with the outstanding results achieved by the island in high-level international competitions, but also with the promotion of sports among the people to improve life quality, and with the behavior and modesty of Cuban athletes.

For example, world record holder and Olympic champion in javelin throwing, Osleydys Menendez, as most of other Cuban champions, began his sport career in her home province, Matanzas, and, step by step, she arrived at the high achievement level. Menedez just is one of the many examples of the massive practice of sports in Cuba where almost every champion has climbed the so-called pyramid of athletic high achievement.

The initial phase takes place at elementary schools where professors of Physical Education are in charge of picking up potential athletes to send them to Sport Introductory Schools (EIDE), located in 14 provincial venues across the island. They register students from elementary and high school.

GRADUAL ATHLETIC PREPARATION

In the next level, there are the High Schools of Athletic Improvement (ESPA), which gather young athletes with the best results from each province. Later, the elite group continues studying in Higher Institutes of Training for High Achievement Athletes.

Foreign journalists and technicians show their surprise when they are informed that the Cuban government is the only economic sponsor of this program that includes hundreds of thousands of students, despite the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed to the island by the US since 1959.

In 2005, near 7.000 students competing in 29 sports participated in the School National Games, which has been the debut of 93% of Cuban champions in Olympic, World, Pan American and Caribbean Games.

Likewise, thousand of children who live in rural and mountain regions take part of Children's Coups and Mountain Games every year.

Hundreds of Cuban athletes have participated in several international sport events held in the island such as the First ALBA Games.

Today, Cuba has 11.000 sport centers and 157 sport schools attended by 5.900 professors and 43.300 students.

ELEVENTH OLYMPIC POSITION

In Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Cuba obtained 9 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 11 bronze medals. This outstanding performance of Cuban athletes placed the small island in the 11th position, among the leading countries in competition.

In Montreal 76, Cuba attained the 8th position; in Moscow 80, the 4th position; in Barcelona 92, the 5th position; in Atlanta 96, the 8th position; and in Sidney 2000, in 9th position. Cuba was absent in Los Angeles 84 and in Seoul 88 Olympic Games. Cuba has held the first position in Centro American and Caribbean Games since 1970 -in Maracaibo 98 the island won 191 gold medals, 76 silver medals and 68 bronze medals.

Likewise, Cuba has held the second position -only surpassed by the US- at Pan American Games since Cali 71. The island ousted the US from the first position at Havana 91 Pan American Games.

Cuban athletes develop their skills in a socially stable environment and have access to higher education. The Cuban people, used to the excellent results of their athletes, are very demanding with their sport stars, fruit of a unique experience around the world today.

Recuadro 1...

LOTS OF MEDALS IN 2005
Cuban athletes in grown-up category obtained in 2005, the first year of the Olympic cycle, 392 medals -of them 194 gold medals, 95 silver medals and 103 bronze medals. The island also participated in 13 world championships, in which it won 10 gold medals, 14 silver medals and 10 bronze medals. For their part, juvenile category athletes won 68 medals -of them 34 gold medals, 23 silver medals and 11 bronze medals.

Despite US pressures, Cuba has signed 150 sport agreements with foreign counterparts and Olympic committees in the five continents. In addition, 128 Cuban officials currently hold 220 posts at regional, continental, Ibero American and world level. These results ratify the validity of a principle established since January 1959: "Sports are the right of the people".


Recuadro 2...

GOLDEN PREOLYMPICS

The participation of handicapped athletes in international competitions is a clear evidence of the full access to sports the Cuban people enjoy. In Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, the Cuban delegation obtained the 43rd position with 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 7 bronze medals. Cuba was also the third country with the best results in Latin America.

Recuadro 3...

CUBAN TRAINERS AROUND THE WORLD

The excellence of Cuban sports have achieved international acknowledgement. In 2005, 300 Cuban sport advisors paid service in 51 countries of Latin America, Asia and Europe. Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador and Dominican Republic are among the nations which have benefited the most from this collaboration.

Cubadeportes, a Cuban company that commercializes goods and services in the field of sports since 1992, also offers the possibility of choosing the island as a venue for training and competitions. Some 42 nations have benefited from this choice, among them Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Costa Rica and Ukraine. The funds obtained through theses channels are invested in the development of sports in Cuba and the restoration of sport facilities.

The year 2005 marked the first graduation from Havana's International Sport School which currently boasts of a roll of 1.451 students from 74 nations from Africa, Latin America and Asia.