The Dominican women’s volleyball team celebrated becoming the first national team in any sport to qualify for an Olympic Games. The Dominican delegation won one of the 12 berths for the Athens Olympics during the South American competition held last week in Venezuela. The DR won all its sets against teams from Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. Team director, Cristobal Marte, urged government support of the team, saying that monthly expenditures are now at around RD$500 million for the privatized volleyball program, which includes scholarships to more than 150 athletes that are being trained in the feeder programs for children and teens, plus wages to all those who play and participate in the effort. “This is a project that a single person cannot finance, and needs to be carried out in a permanent manner.” Marte said he has reached the limit of his financial possibility to carry the burden of the volleyball effort and urged more funding. Volleyball team players credited their success so far to the work of former coach of the team, Jorge Perez Vento, who was the No. 2 coach of Cuba when he resigned to train the Dominican team. He was later replaced by another Cuban, Jorge Garbey, who credited his predecessor by saying, “I have only continued the talent he formed.”