Cuba reappears in Amsterdam 1928 with Jose Barrientos (III)

After a long absence from Olympic Games, Cuba reappears in the IX edition held in Amsterdam from May 17 to August 12, 1928, with the sprinter José Barrientos, who arrives in the Dutch city with good references.

Cuba had participated in II and III Olympics (Paris 1900 and St. Louis 1904) with outstanding performances by the fencers Ramon Fonst, winner of three gold medals and one silver, and Manuel Dionisio Diaz (2-0-0), in both events.

Cuban sports lovers were expecting further medals, but "Pepe" Barrientos—a.k.a. “Lightning of the tracks”—could not make it to the podium, as he came in third in his qualifying heat, behind the eventual gold and silver medalists in the 100m race.

Earlier, in March 1927, the athlete had covered the distance in 10.4 seconds, matching the world record at the time and going down in the books as the best runner of the year. Then, in April, he clocked 9.9 seconds in the 100-yard race at a tournament in Gainseville, Florida, a record for that southern U.S. state.

He also notched up world records in the Field Day Athletics and in the Caribbean Games held at the University of Havana with 10.2 seconds, but they were not recognized by the judges, who decided, even without using an anemometer, that there was too much tail wind. To top it all off, a few days before the Olympic Games, Barrientos registered a fabulous 16.7 seconds in a special 175-yard run when Charles Paddock owned the world record (17.4s) and Frederick Alderman was waiting for his result (17.0s) to be recognized.

That’s sports for you. Given these results, who would dare deny that the “Lightning of the tracks” was a strong medal candidate?