The Dominican Republic finished in the 14th place at the close of the Winnipeg, Canada Pan American Games. To the tune of merengue and other Caribbean beats, the DR delegation paraded through the full Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremonies carrying a banner that read in Spanish and English, "see you all in 2003." The DR’s troupe of 158 athletes (107 men and 51 women) won nine medals, falling below optimistic forecasts of 14-20 medals. The DR’s best performance in a Pan American Games was in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979 when the country won 19 medals. Some sports analysts say that the mediocre results of Dominican athletes reinforce sports authorities’ view that hosting the Pan Am Games in the DR is the best way to boost sports here. The DR only won medals in weightlifting, karate, tae kwon do and judo. The list of Dominican medal winners was as follows: Wanda Rijo, gold, weightlifting Miosotis Heredia, silver, weightlifting Sención Quezada, bronze, weightlifting Guillermina Candelario, bronze, weightlifting Katty Acevedo, silver, karate Luis Benitez , silver, tae kwon do Danny Vizcaino, bronze, tae kwon do Juan C. Jacinto, bronze, judo Eleucadia Vargas, bronze, judo Wanda Rijo won the DR’s only gold on Friday, 6 August, the second to last day of competitions. Juana Arrendel, a Dominican high jumper, had won a gold medal earlier, but lost the medal when she tested positive in a doping test. (The incident has yet to be explained, with Arrendel citing she doesn’t know what she took that caused her to fail the test. Arrendel had jumped high enough to win the Pan Am gold in the Central American and Caribbean Games held last year in Venezuela, and then passed the doping test.) 20-year old Juana Arrendel has promised to make a comeback, regardless of the length of the sanction she may receive from the International Track and Field Federation. Rijo won her gold medal in the up to 75 kilogram category. She lifted 100 kilograms in the squat-style snatch and 120 in clean jerk for a total 220 kilograms. The silver medal went to Cara Heads of the US with 217.5, and the bronze to Canadian Jea Lassen with 210. Rijo dedicated the medal to her family and her town, San Pedro de Macorís (home of baseball slugger Sammy Sosa and many other reknown Dominican athletes). She also dedicated the medal to the government program for top competition athletes, PARNI, and to the Dominican Republic in general. Reportedly, the president of the Dominican Olympic Committee, Dr. José Joaquín Puello made it to the weightlifting arena only two minutes before Rijo competed. (Wanda Rijo was the weight lifter that made news recently when the US Consulate in Santo Domingo twice denied her a visa to travel to a sports competition in the US.) The Dominican weightlifting team turned in the best performance for the DR, winning four of the nine medals. Rijo’s teammate, Miosotis Heredia (up to 69 kgs), lifted 205 kilograms for the silver medal. She was defeated by US’s Lea Foreman. The bronze medal went to Emilia Dimas of El Salvador. Weightlifters Sención Quezada (up to 63 kgs.) and Guillermina Candelario (up to 48 kgs.) also won bronze medals. Finally, in tae kwon do, Luis Benítez won silver in the 68 kilogram category and Danny Vizcaino, 58 kilograms, won bronze. At the close of the event, there were cheers for the athletes from the DR, site of the next Games. The most solemn moment of the Games came when the cauldron was extinguished and the flame symbolically passed to Santo Domingo. Mayor of Santo Domingo, Johnny Ventura travelled to Winnipeg to receive the city’s biggest challenge from the Mayor of Winnipeg. The DR has a big task ahead. The Winnipeg games were described as "the best Pan Am Games in history", by Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) president, Mario Vazquez Rana. Athletes, officials and media concurred that the Games were infinitely better run than the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. For more information on the Winnipeg Pan Am Games, see http:\/\/www.panamgames.org\/e_gameon\/frameset_live.htm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dominican Republic finished in the 14th place at the close of the Winnipeg, Canada Pan American Games. To the tune of merengue and other Caribbean beats, the DR delegation paraded through the full Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremonies carrying a banner that read in Spanish and English, "see you all in 2003." The … <\/p>\n