Honduras This Week Central America

San Pedro Sula the big winner in CA games

By RAYMOND GUTT

SAN PEDRO SULA -- The results are in and the big winner is the city of San Pedro Sula. Young Sampedranos will have the benefit of the almost completed sports complexes long after the Central American games are over. The Sixth Central American Games were dedicated to peace. This is the first time since the start of the games that all of Central America has been at peace. Fighting, both internally and with neighboring countries has been the accepted norm for the region. Now that everyone is living in peace, let the battles be won on the court.

This is the first time for San Pedro to host a major international sports competition. Everyone knew there would be last minute problems to work out. Honduras' city that works, worked hard to pull off a last minute miracle. When others wanted to move the games to Guatemala, the organizing committee sought new solutions to the many problems. The main thing that was needed was more time.

From the outside, San Pedro's new stadium is far from complete. The inside may be beautiful, but the first impression is the one that sticks. The first impression of the stadium is that someday it will be nice, but its not ready. There are problems with parking, poor roads to the stadium and in general the site is dirty and not ready.

San Pedro is used to having road problems. The new airport was completed two months before the highway to get there was completed. Last year, the densely populated neighborhood of Barrio Cabanas finally had their streets paved. When the job was 60 percent complete someone asked about wastewater drainage. That led to tearing up the new streets to provide the necessary drainage.

San Pedro Sula is a small city that has infrastructure problems. Was it reasonable to expect this city to be prepared for the Central American games? The competition was postponed once, moving the date back from its original September opening.

San Pedro, with 750,000 inhabitants, is trying to do what has been done in Guatemala and El Salvador, both of which are much larger than San Pedro Sula. Hosting the Central American games is a big job. It was too big for Nicaragua in the past. San Pedro avoided the embarrassment of having the games moved to another location.

Nicaragua has been the most vocal in its attacks about the facilities for the games. Nicaragua wants to host the 7th. Central American Games scheduled for January 2002. Karen del Socorro Lopez, the captain of the Nicaraguan's women's volleyball team, complained that the games should have been postponed until things were ready. She said, "It's impossible to put athletes in this miserable heat without running water in the apartments."

The host site for the next Central American games will be announced at tomorrow's closing ceremony. The candidates are San Jose, Costa Rica; Panama City, Panama and Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaragua feels that they have the most to prove. Panama on the other hand cut back the number of athletes participating this year because of financial difficulties.

Honduran women give 6th CA Games a golden touch

By RAYMOND GUTT

SAN PEDRO SULA -- Athletic success is difficult for many young Hondurans to obtain because of few training facilities and limited international competitions. It is even more difficult for female athletes who are faced with discrimination, macho attitudes and limited opportunities. Many young Honduran_women have been attracted to San Pedro Sula because of better opportunities.

San Pedro Sula offers young people more economic stability. With higher incomes, they are now able to explore other interests, but this has not led to a big increase in competitive sports. San Pedro Sula is a young, vibrant city that is 55 percent female. Many young women now see San Pedro Sula as the city of opportunity. This year, as the host city for the 6th Central American Games, San Pedro is giving young Hondurans the chance to go for the gold.

From the opening ceremony, Honduran women have given the Games a special touch. Claudia Fortin, the 24-year-old star of the 1994 games, proudly carried the Olympic torch to officially begin the competition.

Claudia Castillo and Karen Berrios didn't waste any time in winning the first gold medals for Honduras. These two young women won a total of five gold medals and one silver medal in the first full day of competition.

While many people were complaining about the conditions of the parking lots and housing problems, these two young women were busy doing what they came to do. They gave Honduras a respectable showing early in the games.

The men's soccer team has gathered the largest amount of support and the men's volleyball team provided hours of fast paced, high-flying action.

However, several coaches and athletes wished the games had been postponed until January. This would have allowed the city to put on the finishing touches. Clement Usher, a Belizean coach said, "At first everything was chaotic, but everyone is doing their best." He was surprised that a small city like San Pedro could hold such a major event.

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