BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 16 : Cuba Adds Three More Golds, Finishes With Seven : Boxing: It is best performance ever during a non-boycotted tournament. Team compiles 46-5 record.

While thunder rattled the arena roof, Cuban boxers won three more gold medals at what was supposed to be the most competitive Olympic Games boxing tournament since 1976.

On the final day of competition, the Cubans won three of their four gold-medal bouts to finish the Games with seven golds and two silvers, easily the best boxing performance ever at a non-boycotted Olympics.

The U.S. team that was led by Sugar Ray Leonard and Leon and Michael Spinks won five golds in 1976 at Montreal, the last Olympics where all the major boxing nations competed.

Germany won twice Sunday to finish second in gold medals with two.

Light-welterweight Hector Vinent, light-middleweight Juan Lemus and super-heavyweight Roberto Balado won gold medals for Cuba, joining Saturday’s winners, light-flyweight Rogelio Marcelo, bantamweight Joel Casamayor, middleweight Ariel Hernandez and heavyweight Felix Savon.

Balado was voted the tournament’s outstanding boxer. He showed unusual foot speed for a 220-pounder and easily eliminated Larry Donald of the United States in the quarterfinals.

Oscar De La Hoya was the only U.S. champion. The East Los Angeles lightweight defeated German Marco Rudolph to win his gold medal Saturday. The United States also had Chris Byrd’s silver medal and Tim Austin’s bronze medal to show for the 322-bout, two-week tournament.

Cuba finished the tournament with a 46-5 record. Nine of Cuba’s twelve boxers reached the gold-medal bouts, where only two lost.

North Korean flyweight Su Chol Choi surprised many in Sunday’s first bout with a 12-2 victory over Cuban Raul Sanchez. Su, winning North Korea’s second-ever gold medal, neutralized Gonzalez’s power game with his jab and foot movement.

The 5,000-seat Joventut Pavilion was only about two-thirds full Sunday, but when Spanish featherweight Faustino Reyes entered the ring for his gold-medal match with German Andreas Tews, he received the loudest ovation of the tournament.

He was supported also by hundreds of Olympic organizing committee volunteers, who suddenly poured through a tunnel, took over an entire section of seats, and never stopped cheering and chanting until their fighter had lost a 16-7 decision.

Many were surprised that Vinent, who completely outclassed the entire light-welterweight class, didn’t get the outstanding boxer award. He won easily again Sunday, by 11-1 over Canada’s Mark Leduc.

Vinent isn’t flashy or spectacular. But he boxed five times in Badalona and won by 27-4, 14-2, 26-3, 13-3 and 11-1.

When light-middleweight Juan Lemus followed Vinent’s victory with a 7-1 decision over Orhan Delibas of the Netherlands, it was Cuba’s sixth gold medal. Lemus had only a 3-0 lead after two rounds, but took command of the bout in the final round when he began making Delibas back up.

After an 8-3 light-heavyweight victory by German Torsten May over the Commonwealth of Independent States’ Rostislav Zaoulitchnyi, it was Balado’s turn. May had a bandage above his left eye to protect the cut that he suffered during his controversial victory over Montell Griffin.

In the final bout of the tournament, super-heavyweight Balado easily handled Nigerian Richard Igbineghu. Balado’s swift lateral movement fooled the Nigerian, as did his hit-and-run game. The score was 13-2.

Cuban Coach Alcides Sagarra kept the media waiting in the interview room for 90 minutes after the last bout, and never did show up. Finally, Cuban assistant coach Marcelino Buides stopped by, with light-middleweight champion Lemus.

Lemus was asked if he and his teammates believe this team is the greatest ever to compete in the Olympics.

“I feel great for our whole team,” he said, through a translator. “We are a close, very tightly knit team. We all understand each other very well.

“We box so the Cuban people can see us. Not for money. For us, our ultimate goal is to represent the people of Cuba. We have free education and training--we have never had to spend a penny. Our housing is free.

“When we box, it is for the love of it. And there is also personal satisfaction--I love to box. We are highly trained. We know how to control our weight to the gram. We are successful because we are disciplined, and because the people of Cuba support us.”

Of Cuban coaches working with the teams of 10 other nations here, Buides said he, too, has been on foreign assignment.

“When our boxing coaches go to other countries, we are very proud,” he said. “I myself worked in Algeria for 12 years. Algerian boxers improved a great deal. They won championships at the African Games.”

Lemus was asked if he had dedicated his gold medal to anyone.

“Yes,” he said, “to our leader (Fidel Castro); my little girl, Diana; my mother and father and to all the people of Cuba who contributed to my success.”

Boxing Medalists

* 112 POUNDS

GOLD: Su Choi Chol (North Korea)

SILVER: Raul Gonzalez (Cuba)

BRONZE: (tie) Tim Austin (United States)

BRONZE: Istvan Kovacs (Hungary)

* 125 POUNDS

GOLD: Andreas Tews (Germany)

SILVER: Faustino Reyes (Spain)

BRONZE: (tie) Hocine Soltani (Algeria)

BRONZE: Ramazi Paliani (CIS)

* 139 POUNDS

GOLD: Hector Vinent (Cuba)

SILVER: Mark Leduc (Canada)

BRONZE: (tie) Jyri Kjall (Finland)

BRONZE: Leonard Doroftei (Romania)

* 156 POUNDS

GOLD: Juan Lemus (Cuba)

SILVER: Orhan Delibas (the Netherlands)

BRONZE: (tie) Gyorgy Mizsei (Hungary)

BRONZE: Robin Reid (Great Britain)

* 178 POUNDS

GOLD: Torsten May (Germay)

SILVER: Rostislav Zaoulitchnyi (CIS)

BRONZE: (tie) Zoltan Beres (Hungary)

BRONZE: Wojciech Bartnik (Poland)

* 201+ POUNDS

GOLD: Roberto Balado (Cuba)

SILVER: Richard Igbineghu (Nigeria)

BRONZE: (tie) Brian Nielsen (Denmark)

BRONZE: Svilen Roussinov (Bulgaria)