San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, Cuba.-The Olympic Games are full of curiosities, records, relevant and unusual facts and even terrorist attacks. Starting by Rome 1960; Wim Esanja, representative of Surinam, rested the whole morning in the Olympic Village imagining that game was in the afternoon. Arriving at the stadium, he knew that the playoffs were held in the morning and he had to return home.
In 1968, Mexico had the gray episode of a terrorist attack on the Syrian delegation, which tarnished the brilliance of the games. Similar action occurred in Atlanta 1996, when another assault on the Olympic Park left two dead and hundreds injured, including many athletes; so federation demanded the cancellation of the event due to lack of security.
Perhaps the biggest fiasco of all history occurred in 1988 when the Canadian Ben Johnson won with a world record of 9.83 seconds in 100 meters, to relegate the American Carl Lewis (9.92) to second place in the fastest final of the hectómetro at all times. Just 72 hours later, he was disqualified to be positive in the drug test.
In Montreal, Canada, 1976; two unpublished Olympic events occurred: the perfect scores of the Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci and triumphs of the Cuban athlete, Alberto Juantorena in races of 400 and 800 meters. Something that so far no one has done it again.
Then in 1980, the Soviet gymnast Moscow Ditiatin Alexander became the only contestant until then to achieve eight medals in a single edition. In this edition of the Olympic Games, the Cuban Teofilo Stevenson became the first boxer to win three consecutive crowns in the same category, after winning in Munich Montreal 72 and 76. Meanwhile, his compatriot María Caridad Colón, began the golden path for Latin American, with a throw of the javelin, which was a record.
From Barcelona 1992 to Sydney 2000, Caribbean Brunettes of Cuban volleyball team won three titles. A new story is to be written today in Rio de Janeiro. Hopefully, Cuba be the protagonist again.
