Haiti tries to put troubles aside for PanAm games
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| Published on Friday, July 6, 2007 |
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By Eduardo Simoes
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters): Troubled by political turmoil, Haiti arrives for the July 13-29 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro hoping its delegation of 37 athletes will bring home four medals.
That would mark the best showing yet for the poorest part of the Americas -- an ambitious goal for a violence-torn country that has lived under a U.N. peacekeeping mission led by Brazil since 2004.
Four years ago, when the PanAm Games were in neighbouring Dominican Republic, Haiti won one silver and two bronzes, its strongest performance in the history of the Games.
In the previous 14 PanAm Games, Haitian athletes have only managed to get to the medals podium six times.
Many athletes representing the country train abroad, including a silver medallist in Santo Domingo 2003 and a sprinter seen as a significant contender in the 100 metres hurdles.
In judo, Joel Brutus is among the biggest names in Haiti's delegation after his silver in 2003. Nadine Faustin will be closely-watched by Haiti fans when she runs the 100 metres hurdles at Joao Havelange Stadium.
Both live and train in the United States. In all, of the 37 athletes representing Haiti in Rio, 17 live abroad.
The only reason this number is not bigger is the fact that almost all the soccer team -- 16 players -- live in the Caribbean nation.
On the other hand, the two boxers live in Miami, 11 of the 12 members of the track and field team live abroad, as does half of the judo team, formed by four athletes.
The only "100 percent Haitian" sport will be taekwondo, whose only representative, Tudor Sanon, will try to repeat a bronze medal he won four years ago.
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