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I do not have much material to write, nor
do I have the time.
The Cuba—United States baseball match has
been announced for 8:00 a.m. At that time I am
sometimes in dreamland. The weather prevented
the game from taking place. I think that the
celebrated match will begin on Friday at 8 a.m.,
if the weather doesn’t force a change. Our
athletes are ready to compete even in the mud;
but that is not the case with their adversaries
who would prefer to share first place. We shall
see what happens.
Today, Thursday, I am writing for the
sports page. It struck me to see the number of
athletes injured in many of the sports, with the
exception of swimming, ping pong, tennis and a
few others. Professional status forces you to
risk your life like a modern gladiator. When
they are not felled by a real injury, they
pretend like drama specialists. That would not
educate anyone among the millions of athletes of
all ages in our country.
In many countries, athletes do not even
compete for their own nation. Some of them earn
up to 102 million dollars a year, more than the
owner of a large sugar mill. Cuba only has her
own athletes, and they are not professionals.
It is an unfair contest.
Sometimes I have fun as I watch the strong
well-nourished thorough-bred horses --let's call
them Aryan-- just like their riders. But
despite all that, it is a peaceful competition
and an amusing colonial heritage. Tell me
what’s your competition, and I will tell you who
your colonizers were.
Nowadays as we have some relative
sovereignty, everyone, as the case may be, tries
to introduce new sports into the regional and
world competitions. One example: badminton.
I am now watching the women’s volleyball
game. The score is 18 to 17 for Brazil in the
first set, fighting for the gold. Let’s see if
hearts will be strong. We lost 27 to 25. The
semi-finals were excellent and hard-fought. The
Brazilian manager is worse off than I am. We
win the second set, 25 to 23. We lose the
third, 22 to 25. We win the fourth, 34 to 32.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the
Brazilian manager has had a serious heart
condition. Finally, we win the last set, 17 to
15. What an amazing game!
We have just heard the national anthem
playing for the gold medal in women’s cycling,
at 4:35 in the afternoon. The anthem is played
again for judo, broadcast at 4:44. And again
for volleyball, immediately afterwards. And
later still, another gold, for men’s cycling.
The news keeps coming, but I must deliver
this material and watch the University of
Information Sciences graduation ceremony. It is
almost 6:00 p.m.
Before closing, I would like to express my
deepest sorrow to the people of Brazil about the
tragic aviation accident, with approximately 200
people perishing in the midst of the joy of the
Pan-American Games.
Fidel Castro Ruz
July 19, 2007.
6:00 p.m.
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