In Cuba, Interest in Pan Am Games Is High

The slogan “Listos Para Vencer,” or “Ready To Win,” is prominitely displayed throughout Havana, Cuba.

The slogan adorns Sports City, Cuba’s main training facility, in colorful neon lights, as well as on a right-field lightpole at Estadio Latinoamericano, where crowds of 50,000-plus gather regularly to watch baseball.

The theme is very much a part of Cuba’s 458-member athletic delegation participating at the 10th Pan American Games.

“Yes, hopefully, we are ready to win,” said Manuel Guerra, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee. “It has been a long time since we have competed against the United States in so many sports (because of 1980 and 1984 Olympic boycotts). We want to show where we are. Against other countries, we do well, but the United States is strong in many sports.”

Cuba is one of two countries -- the other being Canada -- that has any kind of chance of challenging the United States in the overall medal count.

The U.S. has dominated the past nine Games, winning 1,966 overall medals. Cuba is second with 672 followed by Canada with 655.

The Cubans are eager to put on an impressive performance on U.S. soil and to gain momentum for the 1991 Pan Am Games, which will be held in Havana.

“People are excited about these Games,” said Pedro Cruz Gonzalez, program director for Radio Rebelde, the government-run radio station. “People are excited about the competition and they will be able to watch it all on TV. Of course, all our people want to see Cubans win. But there also is much excitement because the next Games will be here in Havana.”

Cuba will rely on its traditional strengths -- baseball, boxing, women’s volleyball and wrestling and weightlifting.

The Cuban baseball team, led by veterans Victor Mesa, Pedro Medino and Luis Casanova, are four-time world champions and are seeking their seventh gold medal and fifth straigth.

In boxing, the U.S. has won more overall medals than Cuba, 66-45, but the Cubans have won 28 gold medals, five more than the U.S.

Jorge Gonzales, the defending Pan Am super heavyweight champion, and heavyweight Felix Savon lead the Cuban team.

The women’s volleyball team, with attacker Mireya Luis, who is considered one of the premier premier players in the world, has won four gold medals. The U.S. has won one and is tied with Cuba, 5-5, in overall medals won.

In weightlifting, the U.S. leads the medal count, 56-42, over Cuba, but the Cubans, who have developed a world-class team, could win as many as 20 of the 30 gold medals this year.

Cubans hold seven of the 10 Pan Am records in weightlifting. In fact, one of the top U.S. weightlifters is middleweight Roberto Urrutia, a three-time world champion and former record holder for Cuba who defected in 1980.

For Cuba, Daniel Nunez, a two-time World and Olympic bantamweight champion, is seeking to win his second Pan Am title. He won in 1979, then was stripped of his 1983 gold medal because he failed a drug test. His lift of 262 1/2-pounds in 1979 still stands as a record. Reinaldo Chavez returns to defend his super heavyweight title.

The Cubans could mount a challenge in wrestling, especially Greco-Roman competition where they have won 14 gold medals, two more than the U.S., and trail by only one in the overall count.

Raul Cascaret is a two-time world champion and 1983 Pan Am winner in the 149 1/2-pound division. He defeated American David Schultz in the finals of the World Championships last year and will compete in the 163-pound division.

Another gold-medal contender is Reinaldo Jimenez, who is rated third in the world in the paperweight division.

The Cubans will challenge the U.S. in the artistic gymnastics competition. The Cuban men’s team set a record of 527.05 points at the 1983 Games and Casimiro Suarez set records in the individual all-around and vault competition.

Cuba has possibly its strongest judo team, led by 1983 Pan Am bantamweight winner Rafael Rodriguez. The men’s team handball team also rates as the gold-medal contender while the women’s basketball team, second at the Pan Ams in ‘83, could be a threat.