Havana, November 6 (JIT) -- Cuba finished in fifth place in the XIX Pan American Games, at the close of the competitive calendar this Sunday.
A total of 30 gold, 22 silver and 17 bronze medals, for a total of 69, helped the Cuban delegation to escort the United States (124-75-87), Brazil (66-73-66), Mexico (52-38-52) and Canada (46-55-63), in the same order as four years ago.
The battle for the fifth place had a "heart-stopping" Sunday, as Cuba had no clear chances of adding new crowns, but Colombia did, and a lot of them.
The Colombian delegation (29-38-34) woke up with 21 gold medals and disputed at least 12 finals with a chance of winning, of which it won eight, including bowling, golf, skating and squash.
It just missed one to climb to fifth place in the overall medal standings, taking into account its greater number of subtitles compared to Cuba. In that direction, it missed opportunities in BMX cycling, karate and skating.
Among the continent's elite, Argentina experienced the most notable drop, from 32 titles in Lima 2019 to 17 this time, while Chile did not take advantage of the locality in terms of crowns, since it won one less than in the Peruvian capital (12 for 13).
It is said that host delegations usually grow even by 20 percent in their results, due to a set of factors in favor, but that did not happen here and partly explains the configuration of the top ten of the medal table.
Cuba finished in the middle of the expected range, from fifth to seventh place, with more gold medals than initially expected (18-22). These calculations were made strictly, not conservatively, but the courts always have the last word.
The final entries and the form of our athletes and their rivals played a role. Just as we celebrated several unexpected victories, we also left behind some that had been counted on.
The 30 gold medals of the Greater Antilles were distributed among wrestling (8), athletics (7), judo (6), table tennis (2), boxing (2), canoeing (2), weightlifting (1), rowing (1) and shooting (1).
In the next few hours, the delegation should issue its traditional communiqué in which it will evaluate the performance. However, the head of Inder, Osvaldo Vento, has commented the following through his account in X...
"Overcoming what was predicted demanded a lot of dedication and will to win. Worthy response of athletes and coaches determined to make Cuba happy from Santiago 2023. Reasons to continue fighting and rectify where necessary. Congratulations!".
