By Dario Montero
MONTEVIDEO, Sep 14 2000 (IPS)

Latin American athletes, with the exception of the Cubans, are competing as the underdog at the Olympic Gameswhich officially open Friday in the Australian city of Sydneyplacing their hopes for medals on team sports and their larger contingent of women competitors.

The Brazilian men’s and women’s football and sand volleyball teams, Argentinean women’s field hockey, the Peruvian volleyball players, an Ecuadorian race-walker and Mexican marathoner all have a chance at taking home a medal, agree sports journalists.

Cuba, with 239 athletes, has the largest Olympic delegation of the region and the only one that will be competing for a top spot in Olympic medal totals. The Cubans are counting on at least 14 golds and several others in silver and bronze.

Women hold important positions in several of the events in which Cuba is to participate, and the island’s athletes in general are vying for victories in volleyball (men’s and women’s), baseball, boxing, weight-lifting, fencing and track and field.

Brazil, in addition to being the second largest Latin American delegation of Olympic athletes, is shooting for the Olympic football championship, the only world title it has not won in the sport.

The Brazilian football team, coached by Wanderley Luxemburgo – who has come under fire for his team’s poor performance during the qualifying series for the 2002 World Cup – intends to make up for the frustration of the Atlanta games when Brazil lost in the semi- finals to Nigeria, and lost its chance at the gold medal.

Brazil defeated Slovakia on Thursday 3 to 1 in its first game on the way to the Olympic title. Just one Latin American country has won the Olympic gold for football in the past: Uruguay in both 1924 and 1928.

Honduras also made a good showing Wednesday by keeping the previous Olympic football champ, Nigeria, under control, giving up a tied score by three goals only as the match drew to a close.

Chile rounds out Latin America’s Olympic representation in football, starring Iván Zamorano, who made three goals on the way to a 4-1 victory over Morocco on Thursday.

The Brazilian delegation numbers 110 men and 94 women, an unprecedented portion of female athletes, and includes internationally known sports figures like footballers Ronaldinho Gaúcho and Alex, and tennis star Gustavo Kuerten.

Sports experts maintain that Brazil’s representation in Sydney is much more competitive than the group that went to Atlanta four years ago. There, Brazilian athletes won three gold medals, three silver and nine bronze, the best Latin American performance after Cuba.

Brazil’s expectations in Australia are set on winning six golds: Kuerten in tennis, the men’s and women’s sand volleyball teams, Rodrigo Pessoa in the equestrian competition, men’s football, and Claudinei Quirino in the 200 metre sprint.

The Brazilians also have a chance at medals in yachting, men’s traditional volleyball, several track and swimming events, women’s football, judo and rhythmic gymnastics.

Latin America’s third largest delegation of Olympic athletes is Argentina, with 142 taking part in 22 events, and including an important female presence.

Though the Argentinean sports media consider the chances of the country’s athletes for victory to be somewhat limited in Sydney, they stress that the women’s field hockey team has done very well in international tournaments.

Another aspirant for a place on the medals podium is Argentinean boxer Omar Narváez.

For its part, Mexico has sent 79 of its athletes to the Games in Australia, 24 fewer than went to Atlanta in 1996, when the country took home just one medal.

The president of the National Sports Commission, Ivar Sisniega, acknowledged that it will be difficult for Mexico to achieve a victory this time around, but said he is confident that the country’s athletes will make it to the final rounds of competition.

Despite these somewhat pessimistic predictions, the Mexican people are focussing their hopes on Alejandro Cárdenas, who has marked 44.3 seconds in track’s 400 metres.

But Cárdenas will have to best US sprinter Michael Johnson, the favourite in the event, who set the world record in the Spanish city of Sevilla at last year’s World Championships. Johnson intends to beat 43 seconds, a goal that means he must cut just 0.18 seconds from his best effort.

Among its women athletes, Mexico is fielding Ana Guevara, who has run the 400 metres in 49.7 seconds (the record is 48.2 seconds), and weight lifter Soraya Jimenez, whose best is 210 kilos.

With limited chances at medals are diver Fernando Platas, speed- walkers Miguel Rodríguez (50 km) and Daniel García (20 km), and Víctor Estrada in taekwondo (80 kg) – the world champion two years ago.

For its part, Ecuador is displaying its two top international athletes: speed-walker Jefferson Pérez and marathoner Silvio Guerra.

Pérez, who the local media this year named the Ecuadorian athlete of the 20th century, won the gold medal in his event in Atlanta, the only medal his country has seen in the history of the Olympic Games.

He was also the victor in the 20 km international event held in Finland last May 21. There, Pérez recorded his fastest time of the last two seasons, 1:20:30, beating Russia’s Ilya Markov, who had been victorious at the World Championships last year in Sevilla.

“The one with the most heart will cross the finish line first, and I would not rule out that the winner this year is going to set a new Olympic record,” Pérez said before leaving Ecuador for Australia.

As far as countryman Guerra, journalists and athletes from various countries agree that he is one of the Latin Americans with a chance of taking home a medal in the Olympic marathon event.

Colombian distance runner Jacinto López says Guerra and Morocco’s Kalyd Kannuchi are two talented tracksters because they have endurance, speed and energy in the five, 10, 15 and 21 km events, as well as the marathon. Both are favourites for Olympic gold.

Guerra and Pérez are confident they will achieve results in Sydney that will “bring some joy to the (Ecuadorian) people, who are overwhelmed by economic crisis,” they said in a joint statement before the nation’s Congress, which paid them tribute before the two athletes departed for Australia.

Peru is another Latin American nation with an important presence of women in its delegation. Of the 22 athletes, the women’s volleyball team – which won the silver medal in Seoul in 1988 – offers the best chance at victory.

Also expected to shine in Australia, according to sports media circles, are athletes of Latin American origin who are included in the United States Olympic delegation.

Among the standouts are Jennifer Gutiérrez, the highest qualifier of the US triathlon team (a new Olympic event), and Lisa Fernández, one of the stars of the 1996 team that won the gold medal in softball.

Some of the other top US athletes include Puerto Rican diver Mark Ruiz, and boxers Ricardo Juárez and José Navarro, and Juan Moreno, in taekwondo – also of Latin American origin.

The phenomenon of emigration in the Americas is also manifest in the case of Latin American athletes who, though they wear the colours of their birth countries in Sydney, train and live in industrialised nations.

And then there is Argentinean Raúl Blanco, who has lived in Australia for 33 years and is now the coach of the Olympic host country’s football team.

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