Cubans on track
Alfonso Nacianceno
OPPORTUNITIES remain for Olympic
hopefuls to qualify for the London 2012 Summer Games,
scheduled to begin July 27. The Cuban athletics
team, which will send the largest group to the event
- with 18 members already qualified – is hoping to
add another 12 when the International Association of
Athletics Federations (IAAF) finalizes its list of
participants in July, according to the point minimum
established. The Athletics Association is the last
group expected to complete this process.
In addition to track and field
athletes, the Cuban delegation will include several
boxers, as well as those competing in canoeing,
cycling, diving, weight lifting, wrestling (including
Catherine Videaux in the women’s division), swimming,
table tennis, tae kwon do, target shooting and
rowing.
Over the next few months, the number
of Cuban athletes participating should increase
since, in addition to the aforementioned
disciplines, the judo team is in a position to add
10 or 11 competitors in both the men’s and women’s
divisions.
Likewise, athletes hoping to compete
in the triathlon, the modern pentathlon and
badminton are awaiting decisions by their respective
international federations, according to the
Institute of Sports, Physical Education and
Recreation’s High Performance Department. As of
early May, 91 Cubans had qualified for the Summer
Olympic Games. Their average age is less than 23, as
was the case in Beijing ’08 and at the Guadalajara
Pan Americans in 2011. Thirty percent of the
athletes are expected to be women, continuing the
trend seen in Cuban delegations since 1992.
NEWS FROM LONDON
British parliamentarians have
recently warned that London’s Heathrow Airport, the
largest in the United Kingdom, may not be able to
cope with the massive arrival of athletes and
tourists for the Olympics.
John Whittingdale, of the House of
Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee wrote a
letter to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, warning
that the airport could become gridlocked, with
planes forced to circle and tourists made to queue
at passport control for several hours. He expressed
concern that planes could be left on runways or
blocking gates, not allowed to unload, if capacity
is exceeded inside the terminal.
It has also been announced that
seven of the main companies providing water to the
population in the country’s southern and eastern
regions will levy fines equivalent to 1,600 dollars
on anyone using a hose to water a garden or wash a
car in the street, given the severe drought which is
affecting the area. Some 20 million people will have
to abide by new regulations, while exemptions are
being made for the watering of lawns and fields used
in sporting events, including the Olympic Games.
