CUBA: ATHLETICS - Cuba's top track and field athletes prepare for Pan American Games

Record ID: 369884

  • Title: CUBA: ATHLETICS - Cuba's top track and field athletes prepare for Pan American Games
  • Date: 23rd June 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF JAVELIN-THROWER GUILLERMO MARTINEZ EXERCISING HIS HAND BEFORE THROWING MARTINEZ WALKING ON THE FIELD MARTINEZ THROWING THE JAVELIN IN THE NATIONAL TRAINING COMPETITION
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA1DBT023BYRT3X4FMZPLB8KPEM
  • Story Text: Cuban track and field athletes are gearing up for the 15th Pan American Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
    The Cubans hope to keep their country's second place title among participating countries after the United States, the leader of the region. The Cubans have held second place since in the games since 1971.
    Cuba will compete in baseball, boxing, fencing, judo, water polo, volleyball and basketball, among other sports.
    One of the potential gold medal winners is Yipsi Moreno, a double world champion and Olympic silver medalist in hammer throwing. Moreno hopes to maintain her status as a champion at the Pan American games.
    "I am going to try to fight for the maximum that an athlete can aspire to, which is to be an Olympic champion. I already have a silver and I will see if I can get as close as I can to the world record," she said.
    Moreno won the silver medal in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 after she clinched the gold medal in the last Pan American Games, held in Santo Domingo in 2003.
    Guillermo Martínez is another medal winning prospect for Cuba. The javelin thrower is considered the fifth-best in the world, according to the International Association of Federations of Athletics.
    "I hope to give the best of myself in the Pan American Games and to bring a medal to Cuba," Martínez said during a training session.
    Cuban athlete Yargelis Savigne is the world leader in the triple jump and another medal hopeful in the July games.
    "We want a good result, especially me and my companions, I think that if we continue training hard and with desire, the thing will turn out well for us," she said.
    Some 500 athletes will represent Cuba when the games begin on July 13.
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