The puck flies from powerful female hands at the I Junior Pan American Games. The Cubans Silinda Morales and Melanie Mathéu do the one-two. The first reaches 59 meters and 13 centimeters. The silver girl reaches 54.31. The quality of both did not drop from the clouds. They gave themselves up to training in all its facets. Their coaches have been able to polish them for sport and have paved the way for proper citizenship. I go beyond what was expressed in the previous paragraph.
They are heirs of great wealth. One of the most forceful in our athletics and the history of muscle fighting in the Greater Antilles. The pitchers of this small country do not suffer from the evil of their country pitchers: they are heading towards success with admirable steps, avoiding lack of control and deconcentration. Pages like these so well written in the book of life do not escape if we know how to use them, enrich them and conduct them dialectically. In the reference case, smooth sailing and under full sail so far. And towards inheritance …
The most outstanding: Maritza Martén, the champion of Barcelona 1992 with 70.06. Holder for America in the VI World Cup of that year, held in Havana: 69.30; third in Canberra 1985 and Barcelona 1989 with 66.54 and 65.40 respectively. In the Universiade, ace (66.66) in Kobe 1985 and bronze (64.70) in Duisburg, FRG, 1989. The best of the Pan-American games three times Caracas1983 (59.62), Indianapolis 1987 (65.58) and Mar de Plata 1995 (61.22). In the Central Caribbean, two silver steps: 1986 (63.24) and 1993 (59.44). Maritza Martén became the second Olympic starter in Latin America; the first was his compatriot María Caridad Calón, the golden javelin player from Moscow 80.
In the beginning, it was the Havanan Gloria Álvarez, bronze prize in the Central American and Caribbean V of 1946 held in Barranquilla, with a 29-meter and 72-centimeter record. The Artemiseña Alejandrina Herrera raised the rank in the VI edition of this type of joust: second with 31.78 in Guatemala 1950. In Mexico 1954 it would be crowned with 37.18. The result earned him being selected as the most outstanding athlete of the year in the country, despite the contrary efforts of the Big Five: five bourgeois clubs with enormous power in the sector.
My friend Aleja, that’s how I used to cheat on her, opened the door in the Pan American Games a year later by sending the implement to 38 meters in the II Games staged in Mexico City and ascended to the bronze step. He had to attend Buenos Aires 1951 but the leaders of the Olympic Committee of his country prevented him despite achieving the required mark. Again they discriminated against her for five reasons: because she was a woman, black, poor, of peasant origin, and a military member of the Socialist Youth. When he protested the injustice they told him: “You have two very ugly colors: black and red, imagine …”
Before, his dreams of being a basketball player and a fencer had shattered. He could only practice these specialties in the society for blacks and mestizos Unión Fraternal; nor think of being able to represent Cuba internationally. A teacher advised him: “Put your efforts in another sport: here they don’t want people with your color or to clean the foil or the ball …”. After the triumph of her Revolution, already a veteran – she had been born on April 21, 1924 – continued competing and even managed to break the national record for the bullet and finish second of her favorite test in Kingston 1962.
Precisely, her compatriot Caridad Agüero beat her in the Jamaican race 43.76 by 38.70. Cachita repeated the aforementioned four years later with 43.37 in San Juan 1966. There, his young compatriot Carmen Romero won bronze: 39.07. Since then he has covered a period in the album here by adding three golds and another silver in the Central Caribbean battles, and three continental scepters. He participated in two great appointments. In Montreal 1976 it was ninth; In Moscow 80, an injury prevented him from sustaining a good season on the rise: he finished tenth.
María Cristina Betancourt also shone in that stage: seventh in the great classic hosted by Canada, third in a World Cup, three Pan-American second places, a Central American crown and three silver. The list is much longer and illuminates from the awards of Bárbara Echevarría, Hilda E. Ramos, Ana Elys Fernández, Yaritsa Ferrales, Yarelis Barrios, Olga Gómez …
A separate space for two athletes of the highest quality: Yaimé Pérez and Denia Caballero Both have been world champions and third Olympic sites, as well as other conquests in various tournaments. They remain in combat and their people hope that new triumphs will come from the launches of both discóbolas. Silinda and Melanie, gold and silver in the I Junior Pan American Games, strengthen the aforementioned list. If they continue with the same dedication and the same discipline, they can give us great joys.
