Buenos Aires 1951, first host of the Pan American Games (I)

The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, had the honor of organizing the 1st Pan American Games, from February 25 to March 9, 1951, an event in which Cuba took third place in the medal standings.

In that continental multisport event, the Cuban delegation won 28 medals, divided into nine gold, an equal number of silver and 10 bronze; while the host nation (68-47-39) was the big winner, and the United States (46-33-19) finished in second place.

Among the most outstanding performances of athletes from the Caribbean island, the performance of sprinter Rafael Fortun stood out, with his titles in the 100 and 200 meters in track and field, as a harbinger of the joys that this specialty would bring in the future.

Cuba also won the baseball crown, as a preview of the countless successes that the Caribbean Island would achieve in the years to come in that collective sport.

Gymnastics was another of the disciplines dominated by the Cubans, a competition in which, exceptionally, team medals were awarded in each of the modalities in competition.

Competitors from 19 countries participated at the 1st Pan American Games -16 of them won at least one medal-, in an event whose total number of participants amounted to 2,513.

Among other interesting facts, the South Americans reigned supreme in the most universal of sports: soccer, and also triumphed in water polo, boxing, cycling, fencing, shooting, rowing, tennis and lawn polo.

In the case of the US, they were champions in basketball, while they won the most honors in athletics with 17 titles.

The sports festival of the American continent had 20 modalities in its program of activities, including lawn polo in its first and only version so far.

Buenos Aires would go into history for being the venue where the Pan American Games were born, a tournament that would come to stay and that four years later would be held in Mexico City.