Friday, August 03, 2012

Orinico oro...


Happy birthday today to Ruben Limardo Gascon whose gold medal win in the men's individual epee on Wednesday was totally unexpected a few weeks ago; only Venezuela's second ever Olympic gold. Inolvidable, unforgettable. A cutting comment was "Not an irrelevant victory in Venezuela’s election year" [Bloomberg]. The last gold medal for Venezuela was won by Francisco Rodriguez for boxing (flyweight) in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. Four years ago, in Beijing, Ruben came 23rd but had improved to be 12th seed for London 2012...

He dedicated half his medal to Poland where he has lived and trained for eight years although he also dedicated it to his mother, his coach, (and uncle),Venezuela and last but not least (maybe), Chavez! The image is from El Universal; more great photos HERE. It's worth mentioning that Bartosz Piasecki's silver was the first fencing medal for Norway and in the men’s foil, the Olympic title went to China (first medal ever in the event), the silver went to Egypt (its first fencing medal) and the bronze to South Korea (another first)! the times they are a-changing.

Update: I knew it: he thanked Chavez and raved about his help and - sure as eggs is eggs - on Monday 6th, when Ruben returns to Venezuela, you can bet it will be Chavez soaking up the electoral benefits, despite the 'Chavez dominated Electoral Board' doing all they can to stop the opposition [Devil's Excrement]; however, back in March Ruben was decrying the fact that he had qualified with NO support form the Sports Ministry and that Chavez must know about that.

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