Once a sports power, Cuba is struggling to stay afloat.
A nation that once ruled the world of sports is now struggling to stay afloat. It is the story of Cuba, the only Pan American country, that once challenged the supremacy of the United States.
In 1991 when Cuba played host to the Pan American Games for the first and only time, it pushed the United States to second spot in the overall gold medal haul. Never and never thereafter, any Pan American nation has ever challenged the US supremacy in sports.
The Pan Am Games Organization had run into sort of crisis in late 1983 when Chile, that had offered to host the 1987 edition of the Games, expressed its inability to conduct the Games. The reason advanced was the political turmoil that led to uncertainty over continuous government support for building new stadia and providing the requisite infrastructure.
Ecuador wanted to step in and play host to the Games at Quito. However, the proposal was withdrawn. At this stage, Cuba jumped into the fray to be confronted by the US.
Since the US had proposed to conduct the 1991 Pan Am Games at Indianapolis, it countered the Cuban proposal saying that it was ready to conduct the 1987 Games at Indianapolis. It was subject t condition that Cuba would host the 1991 Games and participate in the 1987 Games in Indianapolis. Cuba did.
And the 1991 Pan Am Games had packed a series of surprises not only for the United States but all its allies. It was a special show organized to wash away the spoils of the Eastern Bloc disintegration. Cuba continues to hold the fort though it may not be a world power as it was with the Soviet Union and east Bloc around.
Cuba used the opportunity to show to the world that it was still a power to reckon with. When the 1991 Pan Am Games traveled to Havana, the Cuban President made sure that a good image was painted of Cuba after the fall of the Soviet Empire.
Cuban athletes obliged their master, Fidel Crasto, as they
finished at the top of the medals tally for the first and only time
in the history of the Games.
Cuba won 140 gold, 62 silver and 63 bronze medals ahead of
the US that ended with 130 gold, 125 silver and 97 bronze.
medals.
Unfortunately, Cuba could not maintain its position as leader of Pan Am Games. In the subsequent 1995 Pan Am Games it could win only 112 gold medals, 66 silver and 60 bronze medals.
The down slide, though unprecedented in the world of sports, had started. Since then, the Cuban gains at Pan Am Games have shown constant decline. In 1999, the gold medal haul had fallen to 70, just half of what it was eight years earlier. It improved a little in 2003 when Cuba won 72 gold medals. But that was the last time when performance improved after dismal performances in the previous two editions.
In 2007, Cuba could win only 59 gold medals. The number dropped drastically to 36 in Toronto (2015) and fell further to 33 I. Lima, four years ago.
In the ongoing edition of the multidisciplinary sporting competitions, Cuba is struggling to survive among top 10 as it had at the end of day four got only three gold medals against 51 by the US, 22 by Mexico, 20 by Canada, 10 by Brazil and five each by Chile and Colombia.
“There are many reasons for this decline,” says a broadcast journalist from Havana, Cuba. He, however, does not want to be identified saying that it was not for him to analyze the causes of downfall of Cuban sports. “The government has to find the reasons,” he adds maintaining that there has been no letup in government efforts in promoting and supporting sports.
The only thing that cannot be denied is the constant downslide of Cuban sports.
Cuba has been one country that helped India in building its sports teams, especially in boxing and other combat sports. Those bilaterals, too, are changing.
(Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience of 14 years with Reuters News and 30 years with The Tribune Group, covering a wide spectrum of subjects and stories. He has covered Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting TV shows.)
