Cuba won the Olympic Games by finishing 11th
Campaign News | Tuesday, 31 August 2004
Adjusted medal table shows Cuba is best in the world
August 31: Cuba finished the Olympics in 11th place on the official medals table after their boxers won five gold medals on the final day of the games.
But in terms of medals won in relation to the GDP of the country, Cuba actually did the best in the games - whereas the US with its huge population and wealth advantage actually finished close to the bottom.
An article in The Times of August 31 points this out.
By adjusting the total number of medals won by each country for its GDP, the US drops from superpower top to also-ran bottom of the Olympic medal-winners table. With each medal costing a whopping $104 billion (about £58.02 billion) of output a year, the US is the least productive Olympic medal-producing country in the world.
China does not do much better. Though it has shot up the medals table in the past 12 years, its improvement has still not matched its economic growth.
Measuring its national income by what economists call purchasing power parity rather than exchange rates eliminates the vagaries of overvalued and undervalued currencies and gives China a score of just better than that of the US, at $91 billion per medal.
The top output-adjusted nation, in a double blow for American self-esteem, turns out to be Cuba. Its tally of 27 medals, including nine golds, was produced by a national economy that is one four-hundredth of the size of the United States, making it 100 times more efficient, giving the Cubans one more reason to thumb their noses at their bigger, wealthier, imperialist neighbour.
This year, Cuba only participated with 159 competitors - almost a hundred less than four years ago - in 15 sports and got medals in nine of them.
Final medal table
1. United States 35 39 29 103
2. China 32 17 14 63
3. Russia 27 27 38 92
4. Australia 17 16 16 49
5. Japan 16 9 12 37
6. Germany 14 16 18 48
7. France 11 9 13 33
8. Italy 10 11 11 32
9. South Korea 9 12 9 30
10. Great Britain 9 9 12 30
11. Cuba 9 7 11 27
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,15809-1239844,00.html
Cuba Wins Two Gold Medals in Boxing
August 28: Cuba obtained two gold medals in boxing as Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solís won their respective contests, held at the 'Peristeri Hall' on Saturday.
51-kilo Gamboa beat Jerome Thomas, from France, 38/23. The Cuban flyweight won all four rounds, 9/8, 12/6, 9/5, 8/4. Fuad Aslanov, from Azerbaijan, and German Rustamhodza Rahimov were the bronze medallists. Solís, from the 91-kilo division, also set the pace all the way, 6/5, 7/4, 4/2, 5/2, to wind up with a 22/13 victory over Viktar Zuyev, from Belarus. Egyptian Mohamed Elsayed and Syrian Naser Al Shami shared the third place.
Meanwhile, Cuban 64-kilo Yudel Johnson lost 17-11 to 2003 world championship bronze medallist, Thai Manus Boonjumhong, and finished with the silver medal. The Cuban won the second round 4/3, and lost the three others, 2/6, 4/5 and 1/3, although the judges' work was not the best one according to some specialists. The light welterweight division's bronze medallists were Bulgarian Boris Georgiev and Rumanian Ionut Gheorge.
In another final bout, Russian Alexey Tichtchenko outslugged Kim Song Guk, from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, 39/21, to win the featherweight, 57-kilo class title. The detailed score was 13/2, 8/7, 5/6, 13/6. German Vitali Tajbert and South Korean Seok Hwan Jo shared the third place. Finally, in the 75-kilo class, Russian Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov beat Gennadiy Golovkin, from Kazahastan, 28/18, to win the gold medal. The US's Andre Direll and Thai Suriya Prasathinphimai were the middleweight division's bronze medallists.
Cubans Rojas and Balceiro Obtain Silver Medal in Canoeing
Cubans Ibrahim Rojas and Ledy Frank Balceiro obtained a silver medal in the men's C-2, 500-meter event on Saturday, at the Schinias Rowing and Canoeing Center. They clocked one minute and 40.350 seconds, becoming runners up, behind Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun, from China, who registered one minute and 40.278 seconds. Russians Alexander Kostoglod and Alexander Kovalev finished in the third position, with a 1:40.442 time.
Also on Saturday, but in the C-1, 500-meter race, German Andreas Dittmer took the gold, booking one minute and 46.383 seconds. Spaniard David Cal (1:46.723) and Russian Maxim Opalev (1:47.767) ended in the second and third places, respectively? Meanwhile, Canadian Adam van Koeverden won the men's K-1, 500 meters. He made one minute and 37.919 seconds. Australian Nathan Baggaley (1:38.467) and Ian Wynne, from Great Britain (1:38.547) became the corresponding silver and bronze medallists. Argentinean Javier Correa was eighth, with a 1:40.639 time. Germany obtained the men's K-2, 500-meter gold through Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskoetter (1:27.040). Australians Clint Robinson and Baggaley (1:27.920) were runners up, whereas Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhenev, from Belarus, wound up in the third spot, as they clocked one minute and 27.996 seconds.
Among women, Hungarian Natasa Janics won two gold medals, in the K-1 and in the K-2 events, both at a 500-meter distance. Competing alone, Janics registered one minute and 47.741 seconds to cross the finish line in front of Italian Josefa Idem (1:49.729) and Canadian Caroline Brunet (1:50.601). In pairs, accompanied by Katalin Kovacs, the Hungarians booked one minute and 38.101 seconds to set the pace over Germans Birgit Fischer and Carolin Leonhardt (1:39.533) and Polish Aneta Pantuzka and Kulesza Sokolowska (1:40.077). 40-year-old Fischer was unable to reach her ninth lifetime Olympic gold medal, which would lead her to tie with the all-time maximum winners in those competitions.
The 'Caribbean Morenas' Give Cuba Bronze Medal in Women's Volleyball
The 'Caribbean Morenas' gave Cuba the bronze medal in the women's volleyball tournament, as they defeated Brazil three sets to one. The Cubans jumped in front, obtaining back to back, 25-22 sets and, after losing the third 16-25, came up with a victory in the fourth set, with a score of 25-17. In this way, the Brazilians, favorites for the gold according to many specialists, finished the tournament without medals, whereas the 'Caribbean Morenas' fulfilled the most demanding expectations taking into account that they are a very young team.
http://www.radiohc.cu/homeing.htm
Cuba wins baseball gold
AFTER a four year wait, the most important gold medal for Cuban fans has come home: the Cuban baseball team beat their Australian counterparts in a tense game and won the Olympic title for the third time. Brilliant performances by the players coupled with the medals won by the hammer throwers has pushed Cuba up to 20th position on the medals table out of the 202 countries competing in the 28th Olympic Games.
Opportune batting from Cepeda, Eriel Sánchez and Eduardo Paret, who scored the runs, and the work of pitchers Norge Luis Vera, Adiel Palma and Danny Betancourt gave Cuba it’s long-awaited, and now greatly celebrated, triumph.
In the athletics stadium - once again, packed with spectators - Yipsi Moreno and Yunaika Crawford burst forward in the event that is generally considered to be the preserve of European athletes and carried off silver and bronze respectively in the spectacular final of the hammer-throw, in which all the competitors threw further than 70 meters.
The Greco wrestling tournament started off full of uncertainty. The three wrestlers in the arena - Roberto Monzón, Filiberto Azcuy and Ernesto Peña - won all of their bouts, seven in total, and moved up in their respective groups. In another combat sport - boxing - flyweight Yoriolquis Gamboa secured the eighth medal for the Cuban delegation, whilst Yordanis Despaigne lost by a difference of just one point.
On the cycling track, Yoanka González finished on points in 10th position in an event that saw Mexico take the silver, thanks to the legs of Belém Guerrero, and a bronze for Colombia from María Luisa Calle.
Today, in another day packed with heats, the volleyball team will face China for the silver medal contest.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/agosto/juv26/36gold.html
Cuba takes gold medal in baseball
ATHENS Cuba captured its third gold medal in Olympic baseball on Wednesday, beating Australia by 6-2 as Frederich Cepeda hit a two-run homer for the Cubans.
Australia took the silver for their first medal in the sport while Japan claimed the bronze after beating Canada earlier in the day.
Cepeda put Cuba on the board first with his homer in the fourth. The Cuban left fielder took a long and leisurely stroll down the first base line to admire his work as the ball sailed over the fence.
The Cubans then exploded for four runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach for Australia, which made its way to the gold-medal game with a stunning upset over Japan a day earlier.
http://www.iht.com/articles/535835.htm
