Cuba at the Central American and Caribbean Games (II)

Mexico City hosted the 1st Central American Games in 1926, coinciding with the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in America (October 12) and as the starting point for what today is considered the oldest regional multisport event in the world.

But the initial steps date back to two years earlier, during the 8th edition of the Olympic Games, held in Paris, France, from the officialization of a document that summarized the feelings and objectives of the sportsmen of the continent, according to the book The Oldest Regional Games, by the late journalist Enrique Montesinos.

The charter, approved by the Central American Congress and sponsored by the International Olympic Committee, agreed that the nations of Central America and the Caribbean would develop the area's competition every four years since 1926 and would assume the rules of the Olympic Games.

Representatives from Cuba, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and a guest from the Dominican Republic met at the General Meeting of Delegates in Mexico City, in October 1925, and adopted several decisions, among them, to grant the first venue to that city.

From October 12 to November 2, 1926, Mexico hosted the event, in which only Guatemala, Cuba and the host country participated and 271 athletes took part in the eight disciplines: athletics, basketball, diving, fencing, baseball, tennis, swimming and shooting; and as a curious fact, only men were present.

For Cuba, multi-Olympic champion Ramon Fonst shone, who won the title in foil, epee and saber, with 24 victories and only one setback in the three modalities.

The first Latin American Olympic champion (San Luis 1904) won over his teammates Alfredo Grissil in foil, Salvador Quesada in epee and Francisco Valero in sabre, showing the potential of the Caribbean nation in that sport.

In the 400m, 1,500m and the 4x100m relay, all freestyle, Cuban swimmer Leonel Smith won the three crowns in dispute, while the gold medals were also won by pole vaulter Jose Sanjurjio, Sergio Macias (triple jump), Pedro Rodriguez (shot put), Luis Lewis (javelin), Troadio Hernandez (hammer), shooter Enrique Ross (free pistol), bookseller Gonzalo Silverio (100m and 4x100m) and the baseball team.

Mexico topped the medal table with 25 gold, 24 silver and 18 bronze medals, followed by Cuba (14-15-15) and Guatemala (0-0-3), which only participated in swimming, athletics, shooting and fencing.

Four years later, as agreed, the second edition of the competition was held (Havana), now with greater strength considering that the number of participating countries, sports and athletes increased.

It was in that version that female athletes competed for the first time -six Cuban tennis players- and the number of competing disciplines increased to 10 with the incorporation of volleyball and soccer.