Cuba at the Central American and Caribbean Games (XVI)

From June 24 to July 5, 1986, the 15th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Santiago de los Caballeros, the second time the Dominican Republic hosted the multisport event in just 12 years.
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According to the book Los Juegos Regionales Mas Antiguos, by the late journalist Enrique Montesinos, the program included 25 disciplines and 288 events, a record number up to that time.

As a unique element, for the first time the competition had two alternative venues, in Mexico and Cuba, for the rowing and field hockey competitions, in the first case, and fencing, in the second.

Likewise, the four sports that made their debut in Havana (table tennis, rowing, field hockey and archery) remained alongside the traditional ones, while horseback riding, which had been excluded since Caracas 1959, returned.

Honduras, Colombia and El Salvador returned to the competition, while Antigua and Barbuda and the Cayman Islands joined them, for a total of 26 nations, with a record number of participants (2,963).

The historical review states that despite the processing of more than 600 samples, no athlete was found to be involved in the use of banned stimulants.

Cuba repeated its performance of four years earlier, climbing to the top of the podium by nations and doing so for the fifth time in a row.

With a total of 174 gold metals, 81 silvers and 44 bronzes, they once again defeated the delegations of Mexico (40-49-44) and Venezuela (18-42-60).

The Cubans were crowned in all divisions of wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling, contributing 20 medals to the overall total; they also won in volleyball in both sexes, water polo, women's basketball, soccer and field field hockey.

Boxing only missed out on a scepter, as 11 of the 12 representatives who reached the finals won gold.

Baseball recovered from the result of the previous regional event against the Dominican Republic and won 17 runs to one, while weightlifting was the sport with the highest number of medals, with 28 golds and two silvers.

Athletics also had a fruitful result, with 27 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals.

Ana Fidelia Quirot had an outstanding performance, winning the 400 meters, the 4x400 relay and the 800 meters, the latter with a time of 1:59.00 minutes.

Also outstanding were javelinist Maria Caridad Colon, with a record for the competition of 67.00 meters, which gave her her third consecutive crown; and sprinters Leandro Peñalver (200, 4x100 and 4x400) and Andres Simon (100 and 4x100).

Other disciplines with good performances were shooting (25-14-7), gymnastics (14-12-2), judo (10-2-3) and fencing (8-4-3); while swimming was dominated by the Island in the men's division, with highlights for Pedro Hernandez, owner of the 100 and 200 meters breaststroke, and Pavel Bello, winner of the 400 combined and member of the winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

The most notable in this sport were the 10 gold medals won by Silvia Poll, from Costa Rica.

In fencing, Efigenio Favier, Jesus Ortiz and Diana Sanchez were the most outstanding, with two titles each; and in shooting, Hermes Rodriguez won six gold medals and Tania Perez, four.

In archery, Alfonso Donate (3-2-1) played a leading role in the six gold medals won by the men's team; and cyclist Eduardo Alonso won two gold medals out of the three gold ones won by his team (3-1-0).

In gymnastics, Casimiro Suarez was the most successful with four golds and three silvers, followed by his teammates Raul Menendez (4-2-0) and Elsa Chivas (3-3-0).

It is also worth recognizing the contribution to the medal count of swimming (6-7-2), diving (1-2-3), field tennis (2-1-3), table tennis (2-2-2), rowing (4-10-2), sailing (2-1-0), archery (4-2-6), synchronized swimming (0-1-1) and softball, which came in second place.