SPECIAL / CUBA DEFENDS ITS SPORTS MOVEMENT AND ATHLETES
 

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                    CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA

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CUBA DEFENDS ITS SPORTS MOVEMENT AND ATHLETES 
DURING SECOND OF A TWO-PART NEWS CONFERENCE IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL

Havana, September 3(RHC)-- Cuba's defense of its sport movement
and athletes continued Friday night in the second of a two-part
news conference presided over by Cuban President Fidel Castro.
The special news conference -- attended by 14 foreign reporters
accredited in Cuba and five Cuban journalists -- began Friday
night at 8:30 p.m. local time with statements by Miguel Palacios,
a Cuban expert in anti-doping control.

Palacios had the responsibility of personally taking urine
samples from Cuban weight-lifters to Europe, where the samples
were tested for traces of the anabolic steroid Nandrolone.  Three
of the island's weight-lifters were stripped of their gold medals
during competitions at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg during
August for alleged use of steroids.  The Cuban expert described
his travels to Madrid and Barcelona in Spain and Lisbon, the
capital of Portugal.  Miguel Palacios affirmed that the results
of tests on samples taken from the weight-lifters upon their
return from Winnipeg were negative by all three European
laboratories.

Another Cuban expert, Juan Garcia Gonzalez, also spoke at Friday
evening's special news conference.  Gonzalez, the head of Cuba's
anti-doping program, described the procedure of taking the
samples as soon as the weight-lifters arrived in Havana from the
Pan American Games in Canada.  He stated that traces of the
anabolic steroid would have been in the athletes' systems for
several months -- and that the negative results conclusively
prove that Winnipeg officials were lying about steroid use by the
weight-lifters.

Other Cuban experts and sports officials made statements before
foreign and national journalists, affirming that Cuban athletes
were selected as targets to damage the Cuban Revolution and its
image as an international sports giant.

During the news conference Friday evening, Cuban President Fidel
Castro called on the President of the International Olympic
Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to create a special commission
to investigate the irregularities committed against Cuban
athletes in Winnipeg and during the World Amateur Boxing
Championships in Houston, Texas.

Following Friday evening's statements, Fidel Castro and Cuban
sports officials fielded questions from journalists attending
the special news conference in Havana -- broadcast live on
national radio and television and international shortwave
frequencies of Radio Havana Cuba.
 

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rhc-eng-31898
1999-Sep-04 02:00:38