One keeps counting them these days. But there is one that must have hurt at Miraflores. A lot.
There were the Panamerican games in Guadalajara the last two weeks and in the final count Colombia beat Venezuela. 24 gold medals to Venezuela's 12. In silver Venezuela did better but not enough and the end result is 84-72 for Colombia. So in spite of all the Cuban trainers, all the claimed help to athletes, all the "new" training facilities, etc, etc... Venezuela cannot beat Colombia where we all know that conditions are atrocious, at least according to the chavista media.
The fact of the matter is that chavismo does not understand that sports are not just a matter of throwing money (and sponging some off in corruption). It does not matter if you have promising athletes, if they live in a shitty country, where they are worried about their security and that of their family, if they are worried about how steady would their training conditions be, well, they cannot perform as well as they could. In fact, if you ask me, I think the count in Guadalajara is higher than what it should be, probably benefiting from some lag of 3-4 years ago when there was still some hope that athletic facilities were on the mend in Venezuela.
But in a country of corrupt and fat military, you certainly cannot expect dashing athletes.... Meanwhile Colombia keeps demonstrating that at all levels it is a country in the mend, including today's election where even Uribe is starting to fade as the a new center holds sway since the Polo also faded a lot.
Monday, October 31, 2011
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Very interesting-negative effects of Chavez on the psychology of the atheletes. (Some good baseball players I know, all want to come to US.-Chavez must hate that,since Cuban government does,,)
ReplyDeleteTrue story. Matter fo fact, just look to the numbers of Colombia and Venezuela in the 3 last PanAm Games:
ReplyDeleteSanto Domingo 2003: Venezuela 16 Gold, 21 Silver, 27 Bronze, 64 Total (Sixth place)
Colombia 11 Gold, 8 Silver, 24 Bronze, 43 Total (Eighth place)
Rio 2007: Colombia 14 Gold, 20 Silver, 13 Bronze, 47 Total (6th)
Venezuela 12 Gold, 23 Silver,35 Bronze, 70 Total (7th)
Guadalajara 2011: Colombia 24 Gold, 25 Silver, 35 Bronze, 84 Total (6th)
Venezuela 12 Gold, 27 Silver, 33 Bronze, 72 Total (8th)
While Venezuela has slowly decreased, Colombia has grown at an incredible speed. They have matched us as well in the Central American and Caribbean Games and in the South American games. Maybe for the next Bolivarian Games (which continue to be dominated by Venezuela) in 2013, they will pass us.
In a normal country, the sport minister wiuld resign, but here hell no, the guy will stick to his job and then will get an embassy as reward.
Yep, this is Venezuela after all.
Still, my congratulations to our athletes for their success and to Gudalajara for making a good job hosting. Now, the road is to London.
Thanks, Geha, for the stats. This reminds me of an article I read a couple of years ago about one of our sportswomen who won some prize somewhere in Europe. She was into boxing or the like. She came from a slum in Caracas and although she seems to have been good she lost several times some points because she couldn't stop hitting her opponent once the other was on the floor.
ReplyDeleteWhich shows us what kind of "sports" is promoted in Venezuela these days.
Vas a revirar? vas a revirar?
geha714, thanks for the stats - a real QED to Daniel's point. Colombia has a somewhat higher population than Venezuela, so it's logical to expect Colombia to eventually win more medals, but that alone can't come close to explaining that rate of change.
ReplyDelete"It does not matter if you have promising athletes, if they live in a shitty country, where they are worried about their security and that of their family, if they are worried about how steady would their training conditions be, well, they cannot perform as well as they could."
Reminds me of the old joke (you never hear this any more, not sure if it's a PC thing in part, but the biggest reason is it's simply no longer true). Why do the Mexicans do so poorly at the Olympics? Because everyone who can run, jump or swim is already out of there. Venezuela is suffering from brain drain, and "brawn" drain, too.
It's understandable with their very large populations, the US, Brazil and Mexico will finish high in the medal count. Cuba, like Romania during the cold war, puts a tremendous effort into winning medals and it shows. Canada, however, a frozen wasteland for most of the year with a population slightly higher than Venezuela, won 119 medals compared to Venezuela's 72 medals. By no means does Canada invest much in summer sports programs. Venezuela should not do worse than Canada in a summer games.
ReplyDeleteVenezuela has more than enough raw talent in the streets to dominate in many sports disciples. Particularly in track & field, boxing, martial arts. The Bolibanana government just needs to channel all of the Choros out there, who steal and run incredibly every day (free trainig) jumping fences and other obstacles (salto alto, salto largo, 800 metros planos, etc). Due to the perilous conditions in the streets,our pueblo are becoming better athletes just to survive. Many are great fighters too, with a myriad of skills in defensa personal y ataque. All they would need is proper nutrition and less booze, though..Where are the medals with all that talent out there already?
ReplyDeleteWhere are the medals with all that talent out there already?
ReplyDeleteummm, weapon imports from Russia?
Although Canada is not "a frozen wasteland for much of the year", as alleged, our athletes do have certain special problems:
ReplyDelete"The subject of bears resurfaced last month when Miller arrived at the Olympic Biathlon Training Centre near Quebec City and learned of a recent black bear sighting. Last week, as Miller jogged alone on a popular running trail, a bear charged her from the side. She broke free, but stumbled and was fatally mauled." http://www.mssltd.com/nwtbiathlon/macleans.htm
Thugo will interpret these results as showing a need for further Cubanization of Venezuela. After all, the Cubans, just like their former big brothers, have been quite successful in international athletics.
ReplyDelete