Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon (born April 18, 1975) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

sprint canoeist Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed sprint canoes or sprint kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. The term is still in use today ...

who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Balceiro became the first-ever Cuban canoeist to win a major international title, taking the

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

C-1 1000 m gold medal in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

, Argentina. At the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games () or the 13th Pan American Games and commonly known as Winnipeg 1999, were a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Ma ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Balceiro duelled with Canadian

Steve Giles Stephen Giles (born July 4, 1972) is a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won the bronze in the C-1 1000 m event at Sydney in 2000. Life Giles was born in St. S ...

, the reigning

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

C-1 1000 m champion. Giles won the C-1 1000 m final ahead of Balceiro with the positions reversed in the C-1 500 m event. By now the Cubans were challenging the top European canoeists as well and at the

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, Balceiro achieved another first as he won the country's first-ever canoe/kayak Olympic medal - the C-1 1000 m silver behind Germany's

Andreas Dittmer Andreas Dittmer (born 16 April 1972 in Neustrelitz, Bezirk Neubrandenburg) is a German sprint canoeist. The dominant sprint canoeist of his generation in 1000 m races, he has won three Olympic and eight world championship gold medals. Dittmer wo ...

. In the C-1 500 m event, he finished sixth. On the retirement of

Leobaldo Pereira Leobaldo Pereira Pulido (born July 31, 1972) is a Cuban sprint canoeist who competed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. He won the silver medal in the C-2 1000 m event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Pereira also won four med ...

at the end of the 2001 season, Balceiro was selected as the new partner for

Ibrahim Rojas Ibrahim Rojas Blanco (born October 10, 1975) is a Cuban sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. In 2001 he and partner Leobaldo Pereira won Cuba's first-ever world championship gold medal. In all Rojas won three worl ...

in Cuba's two-man (C-2) canoe. The two men had occasionally raced together as teenagers and struck up an immediate understanding on and off the water. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

they became double world champions (C-2 200 m and C-2 500 m) in

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, Spain. They also took the silver medal in the C-2 1000 m final. The pair were voted Cuban Athletes of the Year in recognition of their achievement. In 2003 they won both C-2 finals at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

(500 m and 1000 m) and went to the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

at Gainesville, USA, as favourites. Unlike their main European rivals, they again entered all three C-2 events. They finished fourth in the C-2 500 m, but were awarded bronze after the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n team was stripped of their silver medals following

Sergey Ulegin Sergey Ulegin (born October 8, 1977 in Engels) is a Russian canoeist who has been competing since 2001 He won a silver in the men's C-2 500 m event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. At the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Ulegin has ...

's doping disqualification. The Cuban pair had had very little recovery time since the Pan-American Games however and, this time, their grueling race schedule took its toll on Rojas and they finished outside the medals. Both men were due to retire after the Athens Olympics and were hopeful of bowing out with a medal. Eighth place in the C-2 1000 m final was a disappointment, but the next day they won the C-2 500m silver medal. Balceiro later decided to continue and switched back to the C-1 event for the 2005 season. He holds the C-1 200 m world record of 38.383 seconds (

2002)

References