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<title>Alejandro Guevara Onofre - EzineArticles Expert Author</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alejandro_Guevara_Onofre</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:14:05 -0600</pubDate>
<image><title>Alejandro Guevara Onofre - EzineArticles Expert Author</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alejandro_Guevara_Onofre</link>
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<copyright>Copyright 2012 EzineArticles.com - All Rights Reserved.</copyright>
<description><![CDATA[Within a span of three years, Alejandro Guevara Onofre has produced a host of high-quality articles/essays about cultures of the world, "re-discovering countries" and exploring exotic locations -from Chad to Vietnam, from Kosovo to the paradise island of Dominica - and new biographies (from such disparate individuals as Halle Berry, Alicia Alonso, Jos? Gamarra Zorrilla, Ra?l Castro Ruz, and Mario Vargas Llosa). He also has made a name for himself as an expert on Summer Olympics, becoming the top "Olympian author" at Ezinearticles.com; stories based on athletic perseverance and Olympian spirit in global sports, including the United States of America. ... ]]></description>
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<title>The United States of America at the Summer Olympics: From 1896 to 2012!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6852965</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6852965</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:16:39 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Alabama-born Jesse Owens captured America's attention by earning four world titles in Berlin--- 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, as well as the long jump. As a result of this, the United States sprinter was one of the globe's most high-profile athletes in the 20th Century. This man is of great historical significance for America. Why? His big performance came at a time when there were fewer black athletes in the global sports arena, breaking down the barriers of prejudices, and occurred with the political backdrop of Germany's Nazi regime. During Owens' days as sprinter and long jumper, he became a symbol of the struggle against racism.]]></description>
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<title>London 2012 Olympics: Edwin Vasquez Cam - The Greatest Peruvian Athlete of All Time!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6836563</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6836563</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:23:50 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Despite being known as a football-loving nation on the world stage, the republic of Peru, a Spanish-speaking country on the South American continent since the 1820s, has won the Olympian glory thanks to its international shooters, who have picked up a total of three medals in the Summer Games between 1948 and 1992. According to these results, unequivocally, the greatest Peruvian athlete is Edwin Vasquez Cam, an Olympic gold medalist.]]></description>
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<title>London 2012 Olympics: Jose Gamarra Zorrilla, Bolivia's Baron Pierre De Coubertin</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6823790</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6823790</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:45:08 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[When Bolivia's Olympic team begins to march into the London Olympic Stadium, with its top athlete carrying the national flag - the traditional red, yellow and green tricolor, I will remember two things: By 1868, Queen Victoria, among the most powerful women in history, abolished Bolivia from her world map after England's ambassador to La Paz, the country's capital, had been humiliated by Bolivia's notorious dictator Mariano Melgarejo. Secondly, the South American country has not produced many of the globe's foremost Olympian athletes, but it had one of the best Olympic leaders in the whole history of sport. His name: Jose Gamarra Zorrilla, who was lionized by several foreign governments, from Taiwan and America to the Soviet Union and Mexico.]]></description>
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<title>History of the US Women's Volleyball Team - A Strong Favorite to Win the Olympics 2012!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6764529</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6764529</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:08:26 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In the most glorious international match in volleyball history, Cuba beats the U.S. 3-2 (17-15, 15-7, 11-15, 9-15, 15-10) for the IX Pan American Games gold medal in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in August 1983; the nation's first Pan American medal in 16 years. A marathon game where the global star Flo Hyman is overshadowed by the 16-year-old Cuban volleyball prodigy Mireya Luis Hernandez (who stands 1,76m tall, but with a jump of 3,39 meters over the net), a key-player during the match. Days ago, the U.S. had defeated Cuba 3-1 (16-14, 16-14, 11-15, 16-14) in the first round.]]></description>
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<title>London 2012 Olympics: Africa's Olympic Queen Kirsty Coventry!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6724904</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6724904</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:48:17 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[After her participation in the People's Republic, Kirsty Coventry was declared "national heroine" by her fellow Zimbabweans in the nation's capital city of Harare (ex Salisbury), while the President-for-life Robert Mugabe, a member of the tribe Shona (which makes up over 75 percent of the country's population) gave her $100,000, a reward for winning gold. At the time, Mr. Mugabe, the world's most homophobic leader, called her "a golden girl".]]></description>
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<title>London 2012 Olympics: Paraguay's Warrior-Athlete Benjamin Hockin - A Lesson to Many Athletes!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6667281</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6667281</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:39:49 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Although Paraguay, one of the first independent republics in the Western Hemisphere, does not boast a 50 pool and despite its troubles with training and sports equipment, Benjamin Hockin, whose father is Briton and mother is Paraguayan, loves competing with this landlocked nation. It is a rare case in the Developing World where a number of athletes, from boxers and footballers to fencers and archers, want to become American/European citizens. ]]></description>
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<title>World-Famous Volleyball Players: Natalia Malaga - An Unknown Biography About Peru's Lady's Iron!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/6447522</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/6447522</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:51:30 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State of America, once said: "There are no secrets to success. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work and persistence." Certainly Mr. Powell could well have been talking about Natalia Malaga, the last survivor of the golden generation of Peruvian female volleyball players who won several trophies over the past half-century, putting Latin America's female sport on the Olympic map, alongside Nicaraguan-born Costa Rican Claudia Poll (swimming), Gabriela "Gaby" Sabatini from Argentina (tennis), and the women's basketball side of Brazil, of course.]]></description>
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<title>The Greatest Female Athlete Of All Time - Fanny Blankers-Koen</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5554538</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5554538</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:25:51 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Every Olympiad has had its own star: For example, Paavo Nurmi, a unknown marathoner, to become an icon during the 1920 Summer Olympics, putting Finland on the world map. Later on, in 1924, America's swimmer Johnny Weissmuller made history when he competed in the Games of the VIII Olympiad in Paris. Twelve years after, following the end of the World War II, a woman, a versatile athlete, came to worldwide attention at the London Summer Olympics of 1948. Without a doubt, she was a sportswoman never before seen in the Olympic Games. Her name: Fanny Blankers-Koen. She, whose name real was Francina Elsje Koen, was born on April 26, 1918 in Lage Vuursche (Netherlands).]]></description>
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<title>Africa's First Great Olympic Athlete - Abebe Bikila's Biography</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5533309</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5533309</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:02:03 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Born-Ethiopian Abebe Bikila was the first person to win 2 Olympic marathons in modern times, becoming one of the Century's greatest Olympic athletes. Winning the Olympic gold was one of his dreams after training under the direction of Onni Niskanen (coach from Sweden). Marathoner Bikila, member of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie's Imperial Guard, burst on to the Olympic scene at the 17th Summer Games in the early 1960s, where he took gold; he was not one of the pre-race favorites to earn the global title. Without a dubt, this was a key moment for Ethiopia and Africa. Bikila was born on August 7, 1932 in Jato (Ethiopia).]]></description>
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<title>Nobel Prize-Winning Peruvian Author Mario Vargas Llosa - Full Biography!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5173443</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5173443</guid>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:47:32 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On October 7, 2010, the Republic of Peru, a Spanish-speaking independent country since 1821, had perhaps its greatest happiness in its national history as Mario Vargas Llosa, who writes about dictatorships, violence and democracy, won the 2010 Nobel Literature Prize, the world's most prestigious award. Latin America had to wait 20 years to finally win the international award. Ironically, he, who had received little mention in the Peruvian media, wasn't among the favorites to win the Swedish Award. Vargas Llosa's win is a milestone in the history of Peru, which has the second-worst education system in the Western Hemisphere. Without a doubt, he has become a national symbol; it made every Peruvian proud.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Cuba - From 1900 to 1959</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5156089</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5156089</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:15:13 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Republic of Cuba was one of the few Latin American countries to participate in the Second Summer Games, between May 14 and October 28, 1900, in Paris (France). However their proudest moment was when the Island's Olympic delegation finished fourth in the medal count in the United States of America in 1904, behind the host country, Germany and Canada. The Caribbean country came away with three golds.]]></description>
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<title>Fidel Castro and Cuba - Key Facts and Figures!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5156071</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5156071</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 16:04:00 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Cuba's 1959-2008 Communist dictatorship was responsible for the deaths of up to 17,000 people, becoming one of the most brutal dictatorships in Latin America. In the early 1960s, the Soviet-backed regime initiated a red terror in which political reformers were tortured and killed in large numbers. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people fled the Caribbean country.]]></description>
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<title>Raul Castro Ruz - Interesting Facts!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5156033</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5156033</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:19:02 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Historically, Raul Castro is one of the most anti-American leaders in the Third World, along with Fidel, Mao Zedong, Enver Hoxha and Mengistu Haile Mariam. Following the American embargo on Cuba in late 1960, Castro said: "My dream is to drop three atomic bombs on New York". In the 1960s, he also was famous for his slogan: "Hit the Yankees hard".]]></description>
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<title>Haiti - Facts &amp; Figures!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/5093172</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/5093172</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:26:16 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Haiti is well-known for its outstanding painters since the second half of the 20th century. Despite its difficult history and poverty, the Caribbean island -among the least-developed nations in the Third World-- has produced notable artists such as Rigaud Benoit, Wilson Bigaud, Castera Bazile, Jacques Enguerrand Gourgue, Hector Hyppolite, Philome Obin and Louverture Poison, among others painters. In December 1945, the Haitian paintings had captured the attention of Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism. The Haitian paintings, on the other hand, are in great demand among tourists.]]></description>
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<title>Roberto Urrutia - Symbol of the Struggle Against Castro</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4807119</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4807119</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:43:12 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Nonetheless, Cuba could not offer much to an athlete who wanted to live in a democratic society. Two and a half months prior to the Opening Ceremony of the Games of the 22nd Olympiad in the Soviet Union in 1980, Roberto Urrutia refused to compete for the Cuban dictatorship and sought political asylum in the United Mexican States, after a seven-year sporting career with a number of international and national awards. According to experts, he was one of the favorites to win three gold medals at Moscow'80.]]></description>
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<title>The Pro-Castro Lobby in Latin America</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4787905</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4787905</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:10:45 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Historically, Latin America has had a host of dictators, warlords, satraps, despots, from Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic) and Juan Velasco Alvarado (Peru) to Luis Garc?a Meza (Bolivia), Jean-Claude Duvalier (Haiti) and Manuel Antonio Noriega (Panama). Nonetheless, despite its dictatorial past, Latin America -with over 25 democratic governments since the 2000s-- does not support democracy and human rights in the Island of Cuba.]]></description>
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<title>Alicia Alonso - The Knut Hamsun of Cuba</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4787220</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4787220</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:02:22 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[While many Cuban performers, had fled to Latin America, Europe and the States, Alonso, despite strong criticism from many people, became one of the allies of the new Marxist dictatorship, which had killed more than 3,000 Cubans from 1959 to 1962, when Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz came to power in the late 1950s. With the exception of Alicia Alonso, all Cuban artists refused to support the new dictatorship.]]></description>
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<title>Fidel Castro And the Cuban Revolution - 51 Years of Tyranny</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4743326</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4743326</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:44:20 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In tribute to the "Ladies in White", the European Union bestowed upon them the 2005 Sakharov Prize for Freedom. This award was hailed as a victory for the Island 's pro-democratic groups. The pro-democratic organization "Ladies in White" became a world symbol of the struggle against tyranny and repression. They are one the greatest signs of hope for the new Cuba. In beginning 2008, they were threatened and attacked by paramilitaries forces.]]></description>
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<title>History of Uruguayan Men's Football - A Big Lesson to Learn!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4642689</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4642689</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:11:01 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Uruguay's achievement came despite a serie of obstacles: a small nation of about 4 million of people, exodus of players, lack of sponsors and traditional rivals (Brazil and Argentina). In addition to these obstacles, the country holds one of the lowest sports budget in the Western Hemisphere. Nonetheless, two factors have contributed to development of soccer: human development and determination.]]></description>
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<title>Miss Universe - From 1952 to 1959</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4546845</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4546845</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:45:39 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Miss Japan, Akiko Kojima, pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Miss Universe history as she, who worked as a model in Tokyo, captured the title in the late 1950s. Since then, Kojima's achievement was hailed as a win for Asia. Nonetheless, Kojima's victory was not well received in Italy. While Japan celebrated her win, at Rome there were protests against the results after Italy's contestant Maria Grazia Buccella - the favorite at the 8th Miss Universe Beauty Pageant - had been eliminated in the first round. Certainly, Japan had "hurt the pride of Italy", home to a host of legendary beauties such as Gina Lollobrigida and Sofia Loren.]]></description>
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<title>The Return of Miss Haiti</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4445012</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4445012</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:06:46 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Without a doubt, Haiti plays a significant part in Miss Universe history, which kicked off in the States after World War II. On the evening of July 14, 1962, the Island of Haiti began to make a name for itself in the global telecast when the nation's contestant Evelyn Miot caused sensation to become the first black girl to make the semi-finals in the Miss Universe pageant -the world's most prestigious beauty contest-- at Miami Beach, FL. Though it was its first international meet, the Caribbean nation qualified for the second round.]]></description>
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<title>Brazil - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4078446</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4078446</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:45:55 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[With passion, discipline, and Olympic spirit, the Brazilian women's national basketball squad made history when they, against all odds, captured the 1994 FIBA World Cup in Australia. Led by its veteran star Hortencia Marcari, one of Latin America's most high-profile athletes from 1983 to 1996, Brazil beat China 96 -87 in the final. That day, on June 12, 1994, was a historic date for Brazil.]]></description>
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<title>The Men's Soccer Squad of Honduras - Sports Heroes!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070727</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070727</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:53:08 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Against all odds, the squad from Honduras, a team with passion, discipline and ambition, won the right to compete in the global competition in the early 1980s, at the expense of Mexico, Haiti, and Cuba. For the first time, they had captured the CONCACAF Tournament. Later on, Honduras boasted one of its greatest sporting moments when the country tied with Spain, the host nation, 1-1 in the Men's Football World Championship.]]></description>
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<title>Caribbean - Women &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070035</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070035</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:45:14 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Toward the end of the 2000s, the Island's athlete Levern Spencer had been named by the National Olympic Committee as the flag bearer of the national delegation for the 29th Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Her selection was based on her international reputation. At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka (Japan), Miss Spencer was one of the world's 15 best high jumpers. No other Olympic athlete in Saint Lucia, an English-speaking country, has ever matched Spencer's performance.]]></description>
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<title>Silvia Poll - A Woman With Sport in Her DNA</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071533</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071533</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:14:00 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Nicaraguan-born Costa Rican swimmer Silvia Poll was twice named Best Athlete of Latin America (1987 & 1988), ahead of Diego Armando Maradona and Ayrton Senna. Despite these achievements, she suffered a serious setback when she was not backed by the nation's then-President Oscar Arias Sanchez (and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner). ]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Mongolia - Birthplace of Chultem Naidam!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071915</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071915</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:10:04 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Wrestling is one of the nation's most popular sports. Its greatest triumph came at the 1974 World Championships in Katowice (Poland), where the country's wrestler Eveguine Oidov - a national idol-- earned a gold medal; the first world title in the history of Mongolian sport.]]></description>
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<title>Latin American Idol - Nancy Vallecilla</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071465</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071465</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:08:18 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Between 1977 and 1989, Nancy Vallecilla Celi, who studied in the Federal Republic of Germany, was one of Ecuador's well-known athletes. Her career as an international athlete began in the late 1970s. At the Bolivarian Games in La Paz (Bolivia), in October, 1977, she beat Peru's Edith Noeding -Pan American champion- and won the medal gold in the women's long jump.]]></description>
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<title>Caribbean Sports &amp; Athletes!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4069513</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4069513</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:48:12 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Alleyne Francique of Grenada came in fourth place in the men's 400 at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. His performance made him "the Island's best-known athlete". Since the Island won its independence from the United Kingdom in the 1970s, the Olympic team has not won an Olympic gold medal.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Oceania - From Kiribati and Australia to Palau!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071871</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071871</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:47:06 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On December 4, 1988, in Sydney (Australia), Kiribati's sprinter R. Ali Lee set a national record of 15.12 seconds in the women's 100m. The Island of Kiribati -one of the world's smallest countries- is one of the youngest members of the Olympic family.]]></description>
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<title>Americas - National Teams!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4072338</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4072338</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:41:06 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By 1982, America won the Under-20 CONCACAF Championship, followed by Guatemala ( the host country's squad), Honduras, Canada, Costa Rica and El Salvador. In the final match, USA beat Guatemala 3-1 and won the right to participate in the global competition in the United Mexican States in 1983.]]></description>
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<title>Caribbean Soccer - Interesting Facts &amp; Figures!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4072096</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4072096</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:38:06 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[After many years of hard work, discipline and preparation, Jamaica, a cricketing nation, won the right to participate in the global event in Paris (France) in the late 1990s. In the course of the tournament, Japan lost 2-1 to Jamaica. It was the first time in the Island's history that the national delegation had competed in the World Cup.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Belize - A Nation of Sports Lovers!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4072480</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4072480</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:01:29 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[After its independence, on September 21, 1981, British Honduras became Belize and has competed in the international events -for example Olympics, World Championships, World University Games, Pan American Games and Central American and Caribbean Games- under that name. Like many countries and dependencies of the world, this English-speaking nation, located in Central America, has not won an Olympic medal.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Thailand - Birthplace of Udomporn Polsak!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071839</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071839</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:50:34 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Weightlifter Udomporn Polsak became the first Thai woman to win an individual Olympic gold when she earned the Olympic title in the featherweight 53 kg class in 2004. Because of her example, dedication and contribution to the sports history of the Kingdom of Thailand, she is an idol in Bangkok, the nation's capital.]]></description>
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<title>Nations of the World - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070650</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070650</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:34:53 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Burma -or Myanmar- came in second place in the Women's Weightlifting World Championships in Thailand, behind the People's Republic of China. Burma -under one of the world's most brutal dictatorships- had won 510 points, ahead of several nations, among them India (508), Russia (336) and Japan (249).]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Central America - Interesting Facts and Figures!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071670</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071670</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:27:01 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, hosted the Caribbean Boxing Tournament in 1984. Eight nations competed in the international event: Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the host country. ]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Asia - From Brunei and India to Nepal!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071989</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071989</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:14:01 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By the late 1980s, Juan Antonio Samaranch, former President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), arrived in Brunei Darussalam, one of the youngest members of the Olympic family. During his trip to the Sultanate of Brunei, Mr Samaranch visited many sports facilities. For the first time, Brunei, among the world's richest countries, competed in the Olympics in 1984.]]></description>
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<item>
<title>The Men's Soccer Team of Costa Rica - The Golden Boys!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070937</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070937</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:00:33 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The men's soccer squad of Costa Rica was runner-up in the 1930 Central American and Caribbean Games in Havana (Cuba). Five years later, the Costa Rican squad captured the silver medal, after Mexico (gold), in the III Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador (El Salvador). Football is the most popular sport in CR.]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Nations of the World - National Teams</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070466</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070466</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:36:32 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Like Italy, Brazil and Argentina, Germany is listed among the World's best teams. Out of 19 competitions, Germany won three times. Between June 16 and July 4, 1954, it won its first international event when the German team captured the V World Championship in Switzerland. In the final match, they beat Hungary 3-2. Curiously, in the preliminary round, it lost 8-3 to Hungary. This was the first time in which a nation other than Uruguay and Italy had won the FIFA World Cup. Two decades later, by 1974, the men's soccer team of West Germany, led by its star Franz Beckenbauer, won its second global title by beating Holland 2 to 1 in the final game. Subsequently, in 1990, the national squad came in first place in the Men's Soccer World Cup in Rome, Italy.]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Latin America's Greatest Sporting Legend - Maria Paris (Costa Rica)</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071173</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071173</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:31:54 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[From 1974 until the early 1980s, the most popular athlete in Central America was a woman. Her name: Maria del Milagro Paris, a notable sportswoman from Costa Rica. Without a doubt she put Costa Rica and Latin America on the map when she competed in the Summer Olympics (Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980) and World Championships (Cali 1974). ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Mexico - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071262</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071262</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:21:14 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By 1968, Enriqueta Basilio made international headlines when she carried the Olympic flame into the stadium at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Mexico City. Mexico's hurdler Basilio was the first woman to carry the Olympic flame.]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Sports in Honduras - Numbers &amp; Curiosity Items!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071321</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071321</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:02:44 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Due to its anti-Soviet policy, Honduras, along with El Salvador and Colombia, boycotted the XIV Central American and Caribbean Games in Havana, Cuba, in the early 80s. At that time, Tegucigalpa had not diplomatic ties with Cuba and other Communist states.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Middle East - Sports &amp; Athletes</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071786</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071786</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:19:51 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Toward the end of the 1940s, the men's football team of Afghanistan came in 18th place in the Summer Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom. At the XIV Summer Games, Afghanistan --a country with serious domestic problems-- lost 6-0 to Luxembourg. For the first time, soccer players from Afghanistan took part in an Olympic Tournament.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Panama - Birthplace of Irving Saladino!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071766</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071766</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:16:50 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[From 1967 to 1982, the Panamanian men's basketball team was one of Latin America's most successful squads. By virtue of its triumph in the Central American and Caribbean Tournament in 1967, in San Salvador (El Salvador), they qualified for the 19th Summer Olympics in the United Mexican States.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Guatemala - Birthplace of Mateo Flores!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071589</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071589</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:38:25 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Like Miguel Angel Asturias (1967 Nobel Prize for Literature) and Rigoberta Menchu (1992 Nobel Prize in Peace), Mateo Flores is one of the national heroes of Guatemala, a Spanish-speaking nation. On April 19, 1952, Mr Flores made international headlines when he, a worker, won the Boston Marathon (with a time of 2hrs, 31 min., and 53 sec.), ahead of his compatriot Luis Velasquez and Victor Dyrgall of New York.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Central American Soccer - 50 Years of History!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4071046</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4071046</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:43:26 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Salvadoran squad took the gold medal in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico City. It was during the Caribbean Games in 1954, when El Salvador achieved the sensation of beating the host country in the gold-medal game.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Trinidad &amp; Tobago - A Dark Horse!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070066</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070066</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:30:10 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By 2008, TT's swimmer George Bowell was selected the flag bearer of the Olympic delegation for the 29th Summer Olympics in the People's Republic of China. His selection was based on his international reputation. Four years ago, Bowell, an American-trained swimmer, had captured the bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley in the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece; the Caribbean's first swimming medal since 1996. This notable son of Trinidad & Tobago, a white athlete, swam the 200-meter individual medley in an impressive 1:58.80, breaking the old mark of 1: 58.98 set by Italy's Olympic champ Massimiliano Rosolino in Sydney 2000.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Jamaica - Ambition, Discipline and Talent!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4069631</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4069631</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:59:40 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Cyclist David Weller earned a bronze medal in the Games of the XXII Olympiad in the early 1980s; Caribbean's first Olympic medal since the competition was established in 1896. He began to make a name for himself in cycling in the mid-1970s when he was runner-up at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, behind Joselyn Lovell of Canada (gold medal). ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Barbados - An Olympic Diamond in the Caribbean!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4068970</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4068970</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:57:40 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Ryan Brathwaite has become a national hero since 2009, when he, inspired by Obadele Thompson, earned a gold medal for placing first in the men's 110 hurdles at the IAAF World Championships. He became the first athlete from Barbados to win a world title. He was a virtual unknown before the 2009 World Championships. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Ecuador - Women &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4069273</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4069273</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:48:56 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By the mid-1970s, Mariuxi Febres-Cordero, 15, picked up a total of five individual golds medals in the South American Swimming Championship in Maldonado, Uruguay. She captured the 100m freestyle (in a time of 1: 02,69), the 200m freestyle (2: 12, 66), the 400m freestyle (4:34,73), the 800m freestyle (9:28,63), and the 400m individual medley ( 5:19,85). The Guayaquil-born swimmer also won one silver medal in the 200 meter individual medley, behind Lilian Arce (Peru).]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Guadeloupe - Home to World-Class Athletes!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4068874</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4068874</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:35:34 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Guadeloupe is home to many world-class athletes since the 1990s. The Island's athlete Marie-Jos? Perec, for example, was one of the best international sprinters of the 20th century. During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta (Georgia, U.S.), Perec won the 200m and the 400m in Olympic record time of 48.25 seconds. Under the flag of France, she became the second female, after Valerie Brisco-Hooks (Los Angeles 1984), to win both these events in one Olympics. Four years ago, she captured a gold medal in the 400m in the Olympic Games in Spain.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports &amp; Women - The Peruvian Volleyball Team!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070161</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070161</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:35:19 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[At the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow, USSR (now Russia), the women's volleyball squad, led by its world-class player Cecilia Tait Villacorta, came close to winning the gold medal. In the final, Peru (South American champion) lost 3-0 to the Soviet Union (Olympic gold medal in 1980). The USSR and Peru were followed by America (bronze medal), Japan, North Korea, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, West Germany, in that order.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Nations of the World - Athletes &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4070543</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4070543</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:30:06 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Did you know - Argentine-born basketball player Juan Domingo de la Cruz competed for Spain at the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union. He also participated in three European Championships (1977, 1979, and 1981). ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in the Bahamas - A Notable Olympic Nation!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4069081</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4069081</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:27:06 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Sprinter Derrick Atkins obtained a silver medal for placing second in the men's 100, behind Tyson Gay (America), in the IAAF World Championships in Japan in 2007. In that race, he set one of the best records of the Caribbean: 9.91 seconds!]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Americas - Women &amp; Sports</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058456</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058456</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:00:33 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The United States hosted the Women's Football World Cup in the late 1990s. The host nation's team won the gold medal, followed by the People's Republic of China (silver), and Brazil (bronze). On July 10, 1999, in the final, the States defeated China 5-4 (penalty kicks). At the previous World Cup in Sweden in 1995, the team of America came in third place. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Africa - Birthplace of John Akii-Bua!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058343</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058343</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:53:09 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The National Olympic Committee has made enormous efforts to compete at the Summer Olympic Games in the last four decades. The modern state of Madagascar has not had great Olympic champs, like many African countries between 1960 and 2008, but it was home to the legendary athlete Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, the "King of Madagascar", who was one of the world's top ten sprinters in the late 1960s and early 1970s (by 1971, he was the third best sprinter). Because of this, Mr Ravelomanantsoa is the greatest Malagasy athlete of all time.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Colombia - Women &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058192</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058192</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:52:54 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By the early 1990s, Colombia's sprinter Ximena Restrepo Gaviria caused a sensation when she earned a bronze medal in the women's 400m at the Summer Games in the Spaniard city of Barcelona. She is one of the few Hispanic sprinters to win an Olympic medal. Inspired by Juana Mosquera and Eucaris Caicedo, she won many international events in America, South America and Europe during the years from 1985 and 1992.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in El Salvador - A Soccer-Loving Nation!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058399</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058399</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:35:47 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[By the mid-1930s, the Central American and Caribbean Games were held in ES. Over 740 athletes from nine countries ---CR, Cuba, ES, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and PR-participated. Athletes competed in aquatics, athletics, baseball, basketball, boxing, equestrian, fencing, golf, shooting, soccer, tennis, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Africa - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058140</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058140</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:32:37 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In November 1987, Somalia's athlete Hawa Abdullahi set a new Somali record of 13.23 seconds in the women's 100m. Athletics, together with soccer, is one of the most popular sports in the nation, among the world's ten poorest nations.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Argentina - Birthplace of Emanuel Ginobili</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058315</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058315</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:27:01 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[During the years from 1976 to 1983, Argentina's tennis player Guillermo Vilas was one of Latin America's most outstanding professional athletes, along with Nelson Piquet (auto racing), Fernando Valenzuela (baseball), and Wilfredo Ben?tez (boxing). In that time, he won four grand slam events. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Dominican Republic - Birthplace of Sammy Sosa!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058382</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058382</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:40:28 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Baseball remains popular in several Dominican cities, including Santo Domingo, La Vega, San Francisco de Macoris, and Santiago de los Caballeros. This Spanish-speaking country is home to many famous baseball players: Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou, and Pedro Borb?n, among others. On the other hand, the Caribbean Island has won a host of international trophies and medals. Certainly, its greatest triumph came at the 1948 World Cup in Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, where the national team placed first.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Americas - Sports &amp; Athletes!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058282</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058282</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:36:30 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In Bern (Switzerland), Colombia's shooter Helmut Bellingrodt set a new world record in 1974. Despite beating a record that had stood for many years, Bellingrodt failed to win an Olympic medal at the 1976 Olympic Summer in Montreal, Canada.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Bermuda - The World's Smallest Olympic Island!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057907</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057907</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:33:52 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[1976 was a special year for Bermuda. Why? That year Bermuda had its first (and only) Olympic medal in history, ahead of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Burma and a host of nations. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Asia - Women &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058109</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058109</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:32:37 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On March 14, 1968, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, sprinter Meas Kheng set a new Cambodian record of 12.0 seconds in the women's 100m. Between 1968 and 1972, Miss Kheng was one of the most respected athletes -male or female-- in the Asian nation, which boasted one of the worst Olympic systems in the world, probably worse than Afghanistan.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Algeria - Birthplace of Hassiba Boulmerka!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058258</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058258</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:22:26 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The most internationally known athlete is Hassiba Boulmerka. By the early 1990s, she became the first Algerian woman to win an Olympic gold medal. This award was a boost for women in Algeria, an Arab nation in North Africa. Then, she headed the African delegation at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta (Georgia, US). She was born on July 10, 1968, in Constantine, Algeria.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Latin American Heroes - Jorge Delgado Panchana!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057784</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057784</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:19:57 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[During the South American Swimming Championship, which was held in Arica (Chile) in the early 1970s, Ecuador's swimmer Jorge Delgado came to international attention when he picked up a total of eight medals (5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze). In Arica, Delgado, 17, beat Juan Carlos "Johnny" Bello, a sporting legend in Peru and Latin America. Without a doubt, he was Bello's successor. Some years ago, at a meet in the United States, Bello had defeated Mark Spitz, who won seven 1972 Olympic golds.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Angola - Interesting Facts &amp; Figures!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058222</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058222</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:11:55 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Angolan Olympic Committee, under pressure from Cuba and the Soviet Union, boycotted the 1984 Summer Games in the Los Angeles, California, USA. Four years ago, Angola made its Olympic debut in the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow, USSR (present-day Russia). On the other hand, Angola is one of the youngest members of the Olympic family.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>South America - Women &amp; Sports!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057952</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057952</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:56:15 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In the 1990s, Suriname's champ Letitia Vriesde became the most successful South American runner. By 1990, she had won a gold medal in the women's 1,500m at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico City. In addition, she came in second place in the 800m. In the next year, Vriesde earned a silver medal in the women's 1,500m in the Pan American Games in Havana (Cuba).]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Latin America - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057987</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057987</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:53:05 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Guyana sent one sportswoman to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (California,USA). Her name: Innis Jennifer. Without a doubt, she was one of the country's most prominent athletes, along with James Gilkes (Pan American champ in 1975) and John Douglas (Olympic bronze medalist). ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in the Virgin Islands - Birthplace of Tim Duncan!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057855</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057855</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:34:50 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In September 1988, Tricia Duncan, Tim Duncan's sister, finished 30th in the women's 200m backstroke, ahead of Wang Chi (Taiwan) and Sharon Pickering (Fiji), at the XXIV Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Furthermore, she came in 34th place in the 100m backstroke.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Puerto Rico - Birthplace of Roberto Clemente!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4058422</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4058422</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:09:28 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Since 1966, Puerto Rico has had many notable swimmers in Latin America: From Carlos Berrocal, Ricardo Busquets, and Fernando Canales to Filiberto Colon, and Ana Lallande. In addition to these athletes, the Island is the birthplace of Jesse Vassallo. The Puerto Rican-born athlete, who competed for the United States, was one of swimming's greatest performers in the late 1970s.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Argentina - Sports &amp; Women!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/4057818</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/4057818</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:12:51 -0500</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The team from Argentina finished second in the 1974 Field Hockey World Cup in Europe, behind Holland. From then onwards, it became one of the most successful squads in the Western Hemisphere. Over the next decades, it won many international tournaments. By the mid-1990s, they, for example, captured the gold medal in the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. On that occasion, it earned the continental title at the expense of America (silver) and Canada (bronze). In the next century, Argentina -an independent nation for over 190 years-came in first place in the global competition and was runner-up at the 2000 Olympics. Two years later, they earned the universal title in Australia; in that time the South American squad was all but unbeatable in the world. Field hockey is one of the most popular sports in the nation.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Miss Universe - Interesting Facts!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858774</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858774</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:37:35 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Miss Venezuela's president Osmel Sousa is the most successful national director in Miss Universe history. Under his presidency, Venezuela has won five international titles: 1981, 1986, 1996, 2007, and 2008. Sousa's fledgling career received a big boost in 1981 when his pupils won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles. In July 1981, Irene Saez finished first in the Miss Universe pageant in New York, winning back the global title that Venezuela had lost in May 1980 when Maye Brandt was eliminated in the first round in Seoul, South Korea.]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Latin America!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858487</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858487</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:26:20 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Colombia hosted the FIBA World Tournament in the early 80s. Like host country, the men's basketball team, with Jim McGregor (USA) as coach, won the right to compete in the semi-finals, together with the USSR, America, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Spain, Australia, and Canada. However, the local team had a particularly difficult championship, losing all five matches and scoring only 473 points while giving up 656. During that event, Colombia lost 143-76 to the Soviet Union (present-day Russia), one of the worst results in basketball history!]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Former Nations of the World - Soccer Facts!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858568</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858568</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:20:41 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[During the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, East Germany - also known as the German Democratic Republic until 1989 - won the Olympic trophy, at the expense of Poland (silver) and the Soviet Union (bronze). It became the fifth Marxist nation to win the gold medal. Four years on...]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Miss Universe 1982</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858636</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858636</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:12:10 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[After photographs of the 77 entries appeared in newspapers in Lima, Chile's Jenny Purtho Arap became one of the pre-pageant favorites. She had been seen as the first Chilean with a real chance to win the universal title. Historically Chile had not been competitive in MU. Other favorites for Latin America were: Ava Marilyn Burke (Bahamas/ Miss Photogenic 1982), Celice Pinto Marques da Silva (Brazil), Eva Lissethe Barahona (Honduras), Maria Francesca Zaza Reinoso (Peru), and Ana Teresa Oropeza (Venezuela).]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Turkey - From Basketball to Volleyball!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858612</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858612</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:11:10 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Surprisingly, the men's basketball team came in sixth place in the World Championships in Japan in 2006, ahead of Australia, Italy, and Brazil. Four years ago, Turkey also took part in the global competition in Indianapolis (Indiana, United States). During that event, on September 7, 2002, the Turkish team made history when they beat Russia -former USSR- 91-86. On the other hand, Turkey - Ankara, Izmir, Kayseri, and Istanbul-- will be host to the 2010 FIBA World Championships]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Americas - Soccer Facts!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3858546</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3858546</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:01:56 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The States hosted the FIFA World Cup in June 1994. This was the third time the global tournament had taken place in North America (the universal event was held in the United Mexican States in the 1970s and 1980s). At the 1994 World Championship, the national team of America beat Colombia (one of the heavy-favorites) 2-1. Four years later...]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Sports in Colombia - From Baseball To Weightlifting!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3841672</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3841672</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:48:34 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Colombia fulfilled a dream nurtured for decades when the country's athlete Maria Isabel Urrutia won the gold medal in the Summer Olympic Games of Sydney 2000. Colombia, from Cali to Manizales, celebrated its first ever Olympic title. She also became the first Colombian woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She was born on March 25, 1965, in Candelaria, Valle del Cauca.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Pakistan - From Hockey to Athletics!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3840740</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:34:20 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Field hockey is extremely popular sport in the nation and despite many problems Pakistan is one of the few places in the Third World with one of the best field hockey teams. In the 60s, this country was the only one to challenge the Indian supremacy. Between 1971 and 1994, Pakistan won the hockey World Championship four times. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the men's hockey tournament was won by the nation for the third time, having also been champion in Rome'60 and Mexico City '68. In Rome'60, Pakistan was the only Asia's team to win an Olympic gold medal. ]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Ecuador - From Soccer and Swimming to Shooting!</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:31:19 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On October 18, 1960, Ecuador's player Cesar Munoz Vicuna made international headlines when he defeated Bobby Fisher (America), one of the greatest players of all time. Like Jefferson Perez (track & field), Galo Legarda (cue sports), Rolando Vera (athletics), Alberto Spencer (soccer) and Jorge Delgado Panchana (aquatics), Mr Munoz was one of the most respected athletes in Ecuador, an oil-rich nation in South America.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Japan - From Volleyball to Handball!</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:19:13 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[For the first time, the Olympic team of Japan finished third in the medal count in the Asian Games. At the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea, the Japanese team won 58 gold medals and took third place in the unofficial team championships, behind China (94 gold) and the host country (93 gold).]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Nicaragua - From Baseball to Boxing!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3840538</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:17:08 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Baseball is the national sport in the Central American nation of Nicaragua. At the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas (Venezuela), the national team, backed by the Cuban Olympic Committee, won the silver medal, ahead of America and the host country. The silver medal was the second for the country in the Pan American Games; it was the first appearance for Nicaragua in the finals.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in South Africa - From Swimming to Rugby</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:17:03 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[SA sent athletes to the 1960 Rome Olympics, but this appearance was its last until 1992. Why? Because of the nation's policy of apartheid, from the 1960s to 1991, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), under the pressure from Africa, Guyana, and India, ousted the white-ruled South Africa from the Olympic Movement. In that time, SA was condemned by the United Nations and other major international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. ]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Morocco - Athletics to Soccer!</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:16:48 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Between August 8 and August 16, 1985, Rabat, the capital city of the Kingdom of Morocco, hosted the VI Pan Arab Games. Over 3,400 athletes from 17 nations competed in North Africa. The local team took first place in the unofficial team championships.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Indonesia - From Badminton to Soccer!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3841726</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:55:51 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[At the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing (People's Republic of China), the Olympic team of Indonesia finished 7th in the medal count, with 30 medals (3 gold, 6 silver, 21 bronze), behind China, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan. After all those important results, Indonesia - a nation with about 15 percent of the world's Muslims-- competed in the 25th Olympiad in Barcelona (Spain), where Alan Budi Kusama and Susi Susanti, both national heroes in Jakarta (the capital city of Indonesia), won gold medals in badminton, one of the most popular sports in Southeast Asia, together with football and sepak takraw.]]></description>
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<title>Sports in Paraguay - From Athletics to Basketball!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3841692</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:52:57 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The 22nd Olympiad in the USSR -present day Russia-was boycotted by Paraguay -under the dictatorship of President Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989)- because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Due to its modest performance in the Pan American Games in San Juan de Puerto Rico (1979), Paraguay had a list of five athletes to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, among them was Claudio Escauriza, who had won a bronze medal in the men's decathlon at the South American Championships in the late 70s.]]></description>
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<title>Colombian Idols - Luz Marina Zuloaga</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3795237</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:16:21 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On July 25, 1958, Luz Marina Zuluaga, Colombia's delegate, was crowned Miss Universe, replacing Gladys Zender Urbina (Peru), who had won the universal event in July 1957. Thirty-six beauty queens from all over the world compete for the global title, including Poland, a Communist nation in Eastern Europe. That year, the Latin American nation was one of three countries - British Guiana (now Guyana) and Dutch Guiana (present-day Suriname) were the others--- to make its MU debut in Long Beach, CA. Her performance became her a national celebrity in the South American republic.]]></description>
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<title>United States History - Woman &amp; Power</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:48:36 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Janet Jagan is the first American-born to win a presidential election in the world. American-born Janet Jagan, the widow of president Cheddi Jagan, put Guyana back on the world map when she, a former ambassador to the United Nations, became the third South American female to be elected president. ]]></description>
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<title>Latin American Soccer</title>
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<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:17:21 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The first World Cup was held in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital city. The team of Uruguay, one of the greatest teams of all time, won the international title, followed by Argentina and Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia), USA, Chile, Brazil, France, Paraguay, Romania, Peru, Belgium, Bolivia and Mexico. Historically it had been competitive in football. This Spanish-speaking had won six South American tournaments between 1916 and 1926. Two years ago, it placed first at the VIII Games of the Olympiad in Paris, France. Subsequently, the South American republic made tabloid headlines throughout June 1928 when it won the IX Summer Olympics in Amsterdam (Netherlands), a performance which had served to inspire Uruguay even more. It was its second successive Olympic title.]]></description>
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<title>100 Years of US Women in Sports</title>
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<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:43:05 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Guayaquil, Ecuador. At the FINA World Championships, Tracie Ruiz, at 19, won her first gold medal by triumphing in the solo event. She was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Ruiz hails from Hawaii.]]></description>
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<title>Arab Soccer</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3795200</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3795200</guid>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:42:49 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Arab soccer made the international headlines when Saudi Arabia won the Under-17 World Championship in Scotland in the late 1980s, giving Arab football its first global tournament of any kind. Five years on, using a nucleus of footballers from Scotland'89, the Arabian team won the right to participate in the 15th World Tournament in California, USA. Certainly Arabia -an oil-rich country-- had been the surprise of the international event. The national squad is one of Asia's most successful team, having won the Asian Cup three times.]]></description>
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<title>Asian Soccer</title>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:40:18 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In the mid-1960s, the team of Burma won the regional title at the V Asian Games in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. Iran took silver medal, and Japan was third. Four years later, Burma won the silver medal in the Asian Games, behind South Korea.]]></description>
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<title>South American Soccer</title>
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<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3793712</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:26:34 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Soccer was introduced as an official sport in the First Pan American Games - Latin America's largest multi-sports event-- in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951. The host country's team won the Pan American title. They are the most successful squad in the men's soccer event in the Pan American Games.]]></description>
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<title>Europeans Teams - Interesting Facts</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3793614</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3793614</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:10:24 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The host country's team placed first at the VII Olympic Games in the early 1920s. Since then, Belgium became the fourth European team to win the international title. The national squad won all its matches. In the gold-medal game, the local team defeated Czechoslovakia 2-0. Fifty-two years on, Belgium, the host country, came third in the European Championship.]]></description>
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<title>North American Soccer</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3793658</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:06:24 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[America accepted an invitation to play in the first global event in July 1930. At the FIFA World Championship in South America, the U.S. men's football team surprised everyone by finishing fourth, behind Uruguay (host country), Argentina and, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). In the first round, they had defeated Paraguay 3-0. In Montevideo (Uruguay), the States was one of 13 nations to make its international debut.]]></description>
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<title>Heroes of the FIFA World Cup - El Salvador 1982</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3752170</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3752170</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:12:36 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[During El Salvador's civil war, between 1977 and 1989, the national team qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. It was one of the greatest sporting moments in Latin America history, considering that at the time of war ES had one of the worst Olympic systems in the Western Hemisphere. Few stadiums existed and much of the nation's infrastructure had been devastated.]]></description>
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<title>Heroes of the FIFA World Cup - Bolivia 1994!</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3752073</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:50:05 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia's second largest city, was home to the Tahuichi Aguilera Soccer Academy, one of the world's most popular soccer academies. Tahuichi's work was difficult due to many problems in the country, from military coups to extreme poverty. Nonetheless, this sports school made history when it won the World Championships in 1978 and 1982. ]]></description>
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<title>Heroes of the FIFA World Cup - Haiti 1974</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3751655</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:12:48 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Despite several problems in the Island, in 1974, the Haitian squad ranked among Latin America's finest teams, along with Brazil and Argentina, as well as Uruguay and Chile. In that time, the world's first black republic qualified for the X World Cup in Munich (West Germany). ]]></description>
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<title>United States History - American Woman</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3751105</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:02:41 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Laura Welch Bush, America's First Lady, became a champion of women's rights in Afghanistan, a war-torn country. She forced the international community to pay attention to the female genocide in Afghanistan. In 2005, she journeyed to Kabul for talks with President Hamid Harzai and other Afghan officials.]]></description>
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<title>African Soccer</title>
<link>http://EzineArticles.com/3751259</link>
<guid>http://EzineArticles.com/3751259</guid>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:54:00 -0600</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[In late 1968, Guinea, a former French colony in West Africa until 1958, finished tenth in the men's soccer at the Games of the XIX Olympiad in the United Mexican States. Eleven years later, by 1979, this French-speaking nation, one of the world's ten poorest nations, qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Tokyo (Japan). ]]></description>
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