European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 1, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 21u.s. Cagers regime nearing tests pan american games by John Nelson Havana Cuba a the . Olympic committee expects 700 american athletes to show up at the pan american games. America expects 12 of them to win a at last. The . Menus basketball team Hasni to won a major International championship since 1986, but . Basketball coach Gene Keady says a each Day we get a Little bit  and each Day the pan am games draw closer As Crews of volunteers work 20-hour Days to put the finishing touches on the biggest sports extravaganza Ever in the worlds last bastion of old time soviet style communism. In track and Field and swimming . Teams also were expected to do Well although neither was sending its a team. . Boxers meanwhile had reason for Hope until each of the olympic festival winners decided to pass up the pan am games for the world championships in Australia in november. The games run tomorrow through aug. 18 in Havana and Santiago cities rarely seen by americans since Castro took Over in 1959 but now badly in need of outside Cash. Five years ago when he bid for the games Castro was squarely in the bosom of marxist communism and he wanted to show off its Caribbean Branch with a pan am games that would celebrate his communist Island state. Now with communism on the decline worldwide and soviet Aid to Cuba dwindling fast the world wondered can the cubans pull it off cuban officials get the question All the time. A you just finished building your olympic stadium in Montreal and that was started in 1976,�?� cuban sports official Manuel Zayas recently told a Canadian journalist. A i done to think it will take us that Long to finish our  after All this is cubans Debutante Ball and one thing the cubans have in abundance is cheap manual labor. With but a few complaints such As no air conditioning in the athletes Village it appears the venues will be ready on time. The . Menus basketball team also will try to be ready on time. The team Hasni to won a major International Gold medal since the 1986 world championships with a team led by David Robin a son and coached by Lute Olson. In the five years since the team has been beaten in the 1987 pan am games 1988 Seoul olympics and 1990 Goodwill a Carpenter moves to the next task at Havana a stadium where workers labor around the clock against fridays deadline. Games and world championships. This year Keady of Purdue will take a team led by Jimmy Johnson of Ohio state and Christian laettner of Duke into Havana As a co favorite along with puerto Rico. The americans Start the tournament on saturday against Host Cuba. A by our standards anything less than the Gold is a losing situation a Keady said. Keady coached the . Team to a Gold medal in the 1989 world University games but that is not considered a major International tournament since it does not involve the . National team. The . Women steam meanwhile has won 41 consecutive games in major International Competition and is heavily favored to win the Gold medal in Havana. At the last pan am games in Indianapolis in 1987, the United states won a record 369 medals including 168 Gold 118 Silver and 83 Bronze. That total May be less this time because of the track and Field team being sent to Cuba. Big Money tournaments in Europe and next month s world championships in Tokyo have Jept Many big names away. The top american men include sprinter Andre Cason hurdler Tony Dees High jumper Hollis Conway and 35-year-old pole vaulter Earl Bell 1975 pan am Winner. The top women competitors include hurdles Dawn Bowles and Schwonda Williams High jumper Tanya Hughes and Middle distance runner Maicel Malone. Despite its mediocrity the team probably again will win most of the medals. In 1987, a powerful . Team which included Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner Kersee won 56 medals including 26 Gold. Only five other countries won Gold medals led by Cuba with six. The top foreigners to watch include Javier Sotomayor of Cuba world record Holder in the High jump with the world s Only 8-foot jump and Marlene Ottey of Jamaica the world s top female sprinter. International boxing has been dominated for a generation by the cubans and that a Why the . Team was optimistic. On May 25 in fort Bragg n.c., the . Team tied Cuba 6-6 in a dual boxing match for the first time Ever. A we Are proud a . Coach Lucky Vascocu said. A we had lost 15 in a Row to them. At least we tied this  but All six of the winners at that meet including world Champion Eric Griffin of Houston considered by Many the Best Pound for Pound Amateur Boxer in the world won at the olympic festival this month in los Angeles and will skip Havana for the world championships. Medals will be awarded Ijiri 28 sports. In. The previous 10 pan and games the United states has won 1,127 medals including 745 Gold to 328 medals and 287 Gold for  provide taste of things to come by Richard Lorant Barcelona Spain apr with one year to co before the summer olympics Barcelona is vibrating to the sound of construction equipment and the thrill of live athletic Competition. In the new olympic port competitors in the City a second International regatta Peel off drenched to shirts before stowing their crafts. The sails still dotting the Harbor Are dwarfed by the towers of the olympic Village and the sweep of reclaimed beaches. On top of month Pic Hill Sant Jordi sports Palace echoes with the sounds of world championship judo. Down the Hill Young Greco roman wrestlers grapple away while Spanish swimmers churn up the Waters to earn top honors in the National championships. All around greater Barcelona workers at littered construction Sites labor overtime to put the finishing touches on something a or Start building something else. A year from now All this will seem quaint. The enormity of the olympic project is enough to scare the faint hearted or the sceptical a and there i Barcelona 92 no Lack of sceptics in this wizened Mediterranean City. A you cannot take on an operation of this scope if you Are scared or Uncertain a chief organizer Josep Miquel Abad said. A it will be a minor Miracle but everything will be  because of the olympics Barcelona in 1993 will be a drastically different City than the one that won the right to stage the games Back in 1986. A recent government study estimated at $9.4 billion the total amount of Money that will be invested in and around Barcelona in the six years leading up to the olympics which Are to run from july 25 to August 9 next year. By the end of the summer All but two of the olympic venues Are expected to be finished and half of them tested in a summer Long baptism of fire dubbed competitions �?T91. Abad said the summer dry runs important to Fine tune coordination and submit personnel to the Type of pressure habitual in any olympic games. A these Are Maneu vers with live ammunition a he said. But the dry runs provide Only a taste of what a to come. During the test competitions for example the Coob credentials Center is handling 17,000 people. During the games 137,000 people must be accredited. On each Day of olympic Competition half a million people Are expected to be roaming around Barcelona a congested City of 1.7 million inhabitants squeezed Between a Mountain Range and the sea. In addition to City residents and fans that includes 45,000 athletes journalists officials sponsors and tests and 24,000 extra Security personnel who will ave the thankless task of discouraging terrorists. The huge demand for lodgings has forced organizers to be creative. Sponsors for example will be housed in 11 luxury liners docked in the port. Abad said the organization will rely on resort towns up and Down the coast to Lodge those who done to fit in the City. Beefed up Public transport will link the towns to Barcelona