GRANMA INTERNACIONAL DIGITAL

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I am talking of baseball and the decisive match between the Cuban and Canadian teams at the last Pan American Games, just held in Winnipeg, particularly, the moments after the 25th out. You all know that if a match is in the final inning and the 25th out falls when the score is 5 to 1 in favor of a team with an incredibly high morale and a pitcher in full command, at his physical and psychological peak, there is not the slightest hope for the opponent. The 26th and 27th outs will follow immediately and then the announcement; "The game is over!"

Our sports commentators can even make that announcement a few seconds before the easy grounder or the high fly reaches the shortstop, the second baseman or the fielder. "It's a high fly; he's waiting for it...this is all!" That is how confident they are. And I do not remember any fly ball falling during the 27th out. What happened there? At that precise moment a deliberately fabricated and tolerated shameless provocation, which seriously affected the pitcher, the catcher and other key players.

On our television we could not see what was happening because we were broadcasting the host country's coverage and they did not show a single shot of the incident. Our television networks could only broadcast that particular moment later thanks to our reporters who were there filming the game with their own cameras. None of it appeared on our television screens while it was happening, so we did not know when the individual responsible for the provocation entered the field, how far he went or what happened. All we knew was that the game was stopped. Our commentators were describing it but we could not see anything. It was only later, thanks to the fact that our own television cameras had filmed what was going on, that the public in Cuba could find out what had happened there.

The incident affected the whole team, distracting them from the game, breaking their concentration. The catcher, who plays such an important role, had to go out defend his country's honor and flag in response to that vulgar provocation, as did the second baseman and all the others. The pitcher, who was preparing to make the 26th and 27th outs, had to wait 20 minutes or longer; who knows exactly how long before the incident was over.

Under heavy pressure from the Canadian team manager, the umpires were close to suspending our team, stealing our victory, while the public -mostly decent Canadians- took our side, annoyed by this despicable provocation.

This is how a player arrived safe at first base during that decisive match. By losing the game, we would lose first place and also the chance to compete in Sydney. For that reason, it would have been worse to lose the second-to-last game than the last one. If we had lost the last game, we would still be one of the teams competing in this sport at the Olympics, although we would never get over losing it. (APPLAUSE)

The pitcher who had been doing an extraordinary job up until that point had to be replaced. In the end, the glory was all the greater because in spite of what had happened, along came the 26th and 27th outs, and we could have even thrown in a few more outs, 29 in all, and they would have never made it to second base, much less home. We know it very well.

THROUGHOUT 40 YEARS, OUR ATHLETES HAVE SET A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE
OF INDIFFERENCE TO MATERIAL WEALTH

Something like this could never happen in our country. There has not been a single incident like that in the 40 years of our sports history. Respect and maximum consideration for athletes, for their physical and moral integrity are an essential part of our finest sporting traditions. That speaks volumes about our country and our people who are capable of bravely combating any injustice or aggressin against our sporting rights and capable of paying tribute to the merits of rival athletes and applauding them. That is, they are capable of showing the highest respect possible to any visiting athlete.

Cuba has developed a genuine and healthy sports culture. It is unlikely that any other nation has reached the same level, especially when sports have been prostituted and commercialized disregarding their role in promoting the people's health and well-being.

As you are aware, our people know everything there is to know about sports. This is showed by the groups of people who gather together to discuss and argue about every possible strategy in baseball, boxing, volleyball and just about every other sport known to humankind. This is a reality we are all aware of, the fruit of a great sporting culture and passion. The fans know the rules better than we do.

Throughout 40 years, our athletes have set a beautiful example of indifference to material wealth. They live modestly, unpretentiously and value the people's affection and admiration above all else. In recognition of their merits, their values, the services they render our country, the satisfactions they give it and the glories they contribute we are considering, in fact, already beginning to implement a policy of greater care for sports and particularly for athletes.

One day it occurred to me to ask how much money is collected at the baseball stadiums. You all know that the admission paid are a pure formality; a Cuban peso when changed at one of our exchange bureaus is the equivalent to five cents of a US dollar. I asked how many pesos we take in and I realized that the net earnings, based on what we charge -I thought we might even raise the price a little bit but by raising it a bit, up to 20 or 50 more cents, or rather, the equivalent of 7.5 cents of a US dollar according to the exchange rate- were not sufficient to improve as much as they deserve the lives of our baseball players who regularly participate in the national series.

And, of course, we do not make distinctions; if we improve the lives of athletes in one sport, we have to make the same improvements for all the others because that is the sense of justice that should reign in our country.

We must include them all: those who run, jump, practice archery or participate individually or as part of a team in any sport, whether or not it is as popular or widely followed as others because they are all athletes who make sacrifices, train rigorously and give their best for our country. The country will always provide equal treatment when trying to improve its athletes living standards without distinctions between one sport and another. But we understand and are very much aware, and increasingly so, that the country must do more for its athletes, therefore, we have already begun to apply this policy.

I have enumerated quite a few reasons, but there are others perhaps even more compelling.

Throughout the last 40 years, over 50,000 technicians and physical education and sports instructors have graduated in our country and today there are 32,514 technicians and specialists actively working in this field. No other country has such a high number, or even comes close to Cuba, in relation to the total population: 2932 technicians and specialists to one million people. We are by far the country with the highest number of technicians, instructors, professors and other physical education and sports specialists per capita in the world: one to 341 people. We would have to see who follows second in this type of Olympic competition and see exactly its ratio. I do not think the United States comes close to the figure of 800,630 specialists in this field, which is what they would need to match Cuba in this regard.

In the very wealthy countries, there are private instructors who teach and train wealthy individuals, not the poor, of course. The 32,514 technicians and specialists in Cuba -most of whom are young university graduates from the Higher Institute of Physical Education-- are found in every corner of the country, at the service of all of the people from the moment they enter primary school.

As you know, Cuba has an exceptional school games system that culminates in a major national competition, which constitutes an endless source of highly qualified athletes. I am not aware of any other country with a similarly comprehensive system. We have sports initiation schools in every province where basic general education is combined with the intensive practice of sports, in a wide variety of disciplines.

There are also intermediate and higher education centers with young high-performance athletes who contribute to the generalization of physical education and sports among children and young people and to the formation of youth and national teams whose quality is measured in international competitions. Some activities in this field are so beautiful that they can be considered first class sports and art.

The athletes training system in our country is absolutely free of charge and massive because there is no charge for either basic general education or physical education and sports training, which contributes greatly to building character in our children and youth. Sports require discipline, and they teach children and young people a great deal about discipline, resistance, stability, perseverance and courage. They help build character and promote better health and physical and mental development.

In our country, any particularly outstanding athlete in certain sports can have a coach to him or herself. Imagine how much it would cost in the United States or any other developed country to have a coach dedicated to training one outstanding athlete. Also, what it would cost the athlete, his or her family, or any young person who wanted to play tennis well, or be a good gymnast, or practice the high jump or long jump, fencing, weightlifting or any other individual sport that requires specialized and ongoing instruction. The cost would certainly be no less than 50,000 US dollars a year.

You would need to use a computer to do the actual calculations and measure in dollars what it would cost in these countries the work done by our 32,514 physical education and sports technicians and instructors. This is an additional moral reason to support our country judging by what Cuba has achieved with no other resources than the determination, sacrifice and talent of its sons and daughters.

NO OTHER COUNTRY COOPERATES MORE THAN CUBA WITH
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORTS IN THE THIRD WORLD

Moreover, we have provided trainers not only to our athletes but also to athletes from other countries. Based on rough calculations --in this case I have not had access to the exact figures-- using only general estimates and taking into account the number of Cuban coach cooperating with other countries, we could state that no other country cooperates more than Cuba with the development of sports in the Third World.

For example, only in the first half of the year hundreds of Cuban technicians cooperated in training many athletes for the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, where we would be competing too. During the six months involved, a total of 733 Cuban specialists worked in 42 countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and other continents; 39 of the 42 are Third World countries, while only three developed countries had a number of Cuban technicians working for them. Over 600 of these specialists were providing their services within this hemisphere, working with athletes who competed against us in Winnipeg.

You were even able to see --and Sagarra knows this very well- how Sarbelio, one of our best coach working there with great integrity and a sense of honor took two gold medals from us in boxing, fair and square.

The two Argentinean boxers, who are clearly very good athletes, defeated two of our boxers in the semi-finals and went on to win in the finals. Their coach is one of the most admired, prestigious and experienced Cuban technicians. This is what we expect from our specialists cooperating with other countries.

At the last Central American and Caribbean Games held in Venezuela last year --these are events where Cuba predominates by a wide margin-- athletes from other countries trained by Cuban instructors obtained 17 gold medals. At the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, 45 Cuban specialists participated with athletes from other countries who won 26 medals, including eight gold medals and numerous high positions at these extremely tough competitions, in which the United States, Cuba and Canada participated with strong teams. When we lose medals, in any sport, to athletes from Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean or elsewhere in the Third World we have to feel rewarded because this is proof of the dignity, honor, dedication and integrity of our sports specialists. We could ask ourselves how many specialists were sent to these countries by two immensely developed and wealthy nations, the United States and Canada, to train athletes who would then compete against their own, and how much this cooperation would have cost if provided.

Many things do honor our country in sports. A few minutes ago, I asked Erick when he had started out in gymnastics and he said: "In grammar school, when I was six." Only a young athlete who began to practice sports at six years of age could win five gold medals like he did, in spite of the fact that he was not even planning to compete because a lymphatic inflammatory process that seemed to have been cured had begun to flare up as he was traveling for the competitions.

When I asked him how he managed to work things out, he said that they treated him again with antibiotics and he got better. Up until almost the last minute, he thought he would not be able to compete and would only be there to cheer his teammates on.

III PART