Sport in Argentina

• 1 History
• 2 Participant and Spectator Sports
• 2.1 South American Games
• 2.2 Pan American Games
• 2.3 Olympic Games
• 3 Women and Sport
• 4 Youth Sports
• 5 Organizations
• 6 Sports in Society
• 7 The Future

Argentina is the second largest country in South America, lying east of Chile in the “Southern Cone.” Its other boundaries are with Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the Atlantic Ocean. The capital and largest city, Buenos Aires, is located in the northeast on an Atlantic estuary called Río de la Plata. Other major cities include Rosario and Córdoba (each with more than one million people). The national population in 2002 was 37,944,000.

History

By the early seventeenth century, a variety of sports existed in colonial Argentina. El Pato was played in extensive open spaces and involved one horsemen carrying the stuffed carcass of a duck and other riders who tried to grab the duck away and retain it. The modern version of the game employs an inflated ball outfitted with grabbing handles. Another traditional game from the same period is las bochas, a type of bowling game that today has its own national federation. Unlike some other Latin American countries where bullfighting survived to the present, Argentina prohibits it. Horse racing is a traditional Argentinean sport; over thirty tracks exist today.
British visitors and immigrants were largely responsible for the introduction of modern sports in Argentina. Much of the sport development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries took place in private clubs, such as the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. The first club, the Buenos Aires Football Club, which later became the Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club, was established in 1864. A second club, Rosario Athletic, was established in 1867.

Participant and Spectator Sports

Argentina is best known for its professional soccer league (which includes teams such as Independiente, River Plate, Estudiantes, Racing Club, and Boca Juniors) and the international successes of its national team. Soccer was introduced in Argentina in the second half of the nineteenth century by British residents, who formed the first league in 1891 and whose clubs dominated play until 1912. Early soccer success came with runner-up finishes in the Olympics of 1928 and the first World Cup in 1930. Argentina was the host nation and winner of the World Cup in 1978 (during the military dictatorship), winner in 1986 in Mexico City, and runner-up again in 1990. Argentina was the favorite in the 2002 World Cup but did not survive the first round. Through 2004 Argentinean soccer clubs had won the most (twenty) of the forty-four editions of the Copa Libertadores de América. Diego Maradona is perhaps the most famous player in recent Argentinean soccer. Rugby teams composed of Britons played their first match in Argentina in 1873. In 1899 the River Plate Rugby Championship was founded (becoming the Unión Argentina de Rugby in 1951), and the first rugby club consisting of native Argentineans was formed in 1904. A visiting British team played in Argentina in 1910, the first of many international matches with visitors. The first Provincial Championship was held in 1945, and in 1951 the governing body organized a South American championship.
From 1965 onward, the national representative team, using the names Los Pumas, Jaguars, and Sudamérica, played and won many international matches (including the World Cup) at home and in South Africa, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The junior team, Los Pumitas, won the FIRA (Rugby Federation) championships in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1997 (held in Buenos Aires). Argentina finished second in the World University Championships in 1988 and third in 1992. In 1995 Los Pumas won the first Pan American championship and were runners-up in the first Copa Latina, losing to France. When Argentina hosted the third Rugby World Cup sevens in Mar del Plata in 2001, Los Pumas ended in third place after losing to New Zealand in the semifinals. In 2002 Los Pumas won the South American Championship, undefeated.
Polo is one of the sports most closely associated with Argentina. Argentina has had outstanding performances in polo, including gold medals in the first Pan American Games and the 1924 and 1936 Olympics. The Argentinean Polo Association oversees the sport, and there are a large number of local clubs.
Juan Manuel Fangio began racing cars as a teenager in 1929. He competed in many long distance road races in South America, and, sponsored by the government, he began racing in the European circuit after World War II. Beginning in 1951, he won five major titles, including two World Championships and the German Grand Prix. He retired from racing in 1958.
Distinguished Argentineans in professional tennis have included Guillermo Vilas, Gabriela Sabatini, and Paola Suárez (U.S. Open women’s doubles champion in 2003 and 2004). The best-known Argentinean profesprofessional basketball player is Emanuel “Manu” Ginobili, star of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
Along with the many Argentinean Pan American and Olympic Games medalists in boxing, there was the powerful Argentinean professional heavyweight Luis Angel Firpo, who was known internationally in the 1920s. In a famous match with world champion Jack Dempsey in 1923, Firpo knocked Dempsey completely out of the ring. However, Dempsey was pushed back into the ring by fans and won the match. That same year Firpo defeated the American former world champion, Jess Willard.

Gaucho country outside Buenos Aires. Source: istockphoto/plrphoto.

SOUTH AMERICAN GAMES
In 1922 Argentina participated in athletic games in Rio de Janeiro, which were part of Brazil’s celebration of independence. The movement for the establishment of a South American Sport Organization began in Argentina’s Olympic Committee in 1976, but it lacked government support and eventually Bolivia assumed responsibility for holding the first Congress and the first Games. However, Argentina has participated in all editions of the series of South American Games that began in 1978 (first called Southern Cross Games), and, beginning with the third Games in Chile in 1986, Argentina has been the leader in the number of gold and total medals won. Rosario, Argentina, hosted the second Games in 1982.
Between 1978 and 2002, Argentina won South American Games gold medals in track and field, archery, boxing, bowling, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, judo, karate, racquetball, roller skating, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming, taekwondo, team handball, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weight lifting, wrestling, and yachting, as well as other medals in baseball, basketball, golf, minisoccer, mountain biking, softball, synchronized swimming, and table tennis. In six South American Games from 1978 through 2002 (data is not available for 1982), Argentina won 526 gold, 389 silver, and 353 bronze medals.

PAN AMERICAN GAMES
Preliminary planning for future Pan American Games began in meetings held during the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. Argentinean athletes took part in an Inter- American competition in Dallas, Texas, in 1937, and Argentina took a leading role in promoting a Western Hemisphere sport festival whose first host would be Buenos Aires. After delays due to World War II, Argentina held the first Pan American Games in 1951 (in Buenos Aires) and was host again in 1995 (in Mar del Plata), and has participated in all editions of this sport festival. In the initial games, the host nation won the most gold (64) and total (146) medals, including seven track and field events, all boxing categories, all-but-one cycling event, two equestrian events, several fencing and gymnastics events (men only in both), polo, all rowing events, eleven shooting events, soccer, four men’s and women’s swimming events, four tennis events, water polo, four wrestling categories, and one yachting event.
In future games, Argentinean athletes participated in many Pan American sports, winning gold medals in men’s and women’s track and field (women’s pole vault in 1999), men’s basketball (1995), boxing, men’s cycling, fencing (men), men’s and women’s field hockey, men’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, men’s judo, men’s karate, men’s kayak, men’s roller skating (including hockey on skates), women’s roller skating (five of six gold in 1979 and six of seven in 1991), men’s and women’s rowing, men’s and women’s shooting, soccer (1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, and 2003), men’s and women’s swimming and tennis, men’s and women’s taekwondo, men’s triathlon, men’s volleyball (1995), water polo, weight lifting, wrestling, women’s sambo wrestling (1983), and men’s and women’s yachting. Argentina was in fourth place overall for gold (232) and for total medals (796) won in Pan American Games from 1951 to 1999.
After its introduction as a men-only sport, Argentina won four consecutive Pan American Games titles in field hockey (1967–1979), winning again in 1991 and 1995, and taking silver in 1983, 1987, and 1999, and bronze in 2003. Argentina began winning Pan American Games women’s field hockey with its introduction in 1987 and it won again in 1991, 1995, and 1999, and took silver in 2003. Argentina was South American Games men’s field hockey champion in 2003. Men’s teams participated in Olympic Games in 1972, 1976, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2004, and women’s teams participated in 1988, 2000 (silver), and 2004 (bronze).
Argentina has participated extensively in the Pan American Paralympics since the first Games were held in Mexico in 1999. Argentina hosted the only Pan American Winter Games, which were held in 1990 in the Mountain Sport Center at Las Leñas (in Mendoza Province), and the Pan American Maccabiah Games in 1995.

OLYMPIC GAMES
Argentina’s first Olympic participation came with ninety-three men in Paris in 1924, who won polo, second place in triple jump (men only) and two boxing categories, and third place in two boxing categories. Other athletes competed in track and field, cycling, fencing, rowing, shooting, swimming, tennis, weight lifting, and yachting. Argentinean men won gold (in boxing, swimming, and marathon) and other medals (in boxing, fencing, and soccer) in all-male delegations in 1928 and 1932. The nation’s first female Olympian was swimmer Jeannette Campbell, who won a silver medal in 1936. From 1936 through 2004, Argentinean athletes participated in and won medals in many Olympic sports, including gold medals in men’s basketball (2004), boxing, marathon (Delfo Cabrera), polo, men’s rowing, men’s soccer (2004), and the men’s exhibition sports of pelota and hockey on skates (1992). The nation did not send a delegation to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Argentina’s first participation in the Winter Olympic Games was in 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland (two bobsled teams). Since then, the nation has entered all Winter Games except for 1932, 1936, and 1956, competing in Alpine skiing all years, bobsled in 1928, 1948, 1952, and 1964, luge in 1964 and 1968, and Nordic skiing and biathlon in 1984 and 1988. Argentinean participation increased significantly in 1992, with competition in Alpine, Nordic, and freestyle skiing, biathlon, luge, and figure and speed skating.
From 1924 to 1952, Argentina was the Latin American country with most success in the Olympic Games, winning thirteen gold (seven of them in boxing) and thirty-six total medals. An Argentinean was a member of the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) and others have followed in this role. The nation currently has one member on the IOC, Antonio Rodríguez, who was elected in 1990.


Trekking in North Patagonia, Batea Mahuida. Source: istockphoto.com/laurag.

Women and Sport

Argentinean women participated in Pan American Games from the beginning, and over time they increased their numbers and the number of sports they played. However, the nation was late adding women to its Olympic delegations—the first was Jeannette Campbell, who won a silver medal in swimming in 1936. Gabriela Sabatini, a professional and Olympic tennis player, is one of the most famous Argentinean women in sport. Currently, Paola Suárez is prominent in doubles tennis, having won the U.S. Open in 2003 and 2004. Roller skater Nora Alicia Vega won five world titles, eight Pan American Games medals, ten South American Championships, and fifty national tournaments. Argentinean women’s field hockey teams won Pan American Games gold four times through 1999 and an Olympic bronze medal in 2004. Argentina’s eighteen Olympic flag bearers between 1924 and 2004 have included five women (Isabel Avellán, swimmer, 1956; Cristina Hardekopf, diver and only female athlete, 1960; Jeannette Campbell, swimmer, 1964; Gabriela Sabatini, tennis, 1988; and Carolina Mariani, judo, 1996).
Argentina has a Commission for Women and Sport. A few young women are taking up the previously maledominated sports of car racing, soccer, boxing, weight lifting, and polo.

Youth Sports

Young people are involved extensively in sport and there are age-group leagues and junior international competitions in sports such as soccer and rugby.

Organizations

The Argentinean National Olympic Committee, which was established 1923, maintains a comprehensive and useful website (http://www.coarg.org.ar/). Argentinean sport is organized into fifty-nine national associations, federations, and confederations under the Olympic committee. These organizations correspond to the mainstream international summer Olympic sports as well as to others, such as subaquatic activities, chess, billiards, bobsled and skeleton, bochas, bowling, boxing, bridge, netball, colombófila (pigeon racing), orienteering, military sport, sport law, water skiing, faustball (similar to volleyball but the ball may bounce between each of three hits per side), sport medicine, sport motorcycling, special Olympics, parachuting, pelota vasca, skiing and mountain climbing, and squash. The Secretaría de Deporte y Recreación is the principal government agency responsible for overseeing sport activities.

Sports in Society

Argentinean soccer is so popular that it inspires neighborhood, club, provincial, and national spirit, and, unfortunately, often produces violence among fans, especially since the restoration of democratic government in 1983. Soccer has had many connections with Argentinean politics at all levels. The directors of local clubs are elected by their memberships, and party politics commonly play a role in these elections.The president of the Argentinean Football Association (AFA) is usually linked to politics, and the federal government has a history of getting involved in soccer affairs.
National president Juan Perón (1946–1955) used sport to build national spirit and gain support for his government. His government strengthened sport, and the AFA in turn backed Perón in his presidential campaigns. Perón’s popular wife, Eva, promoted participation in sport (including the Evita Youth Championships) as a means of improving young people’s health. Some of the closest connections between soccer and politics occurred during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. The generals wanted good publicity for the 1978 World Cup Finals in Argentina. In an effort to please their own people and impress the visitors, the government spent great amounts of money on infrastructure related to holding the Cup matches, and the (usually violent) neighborhood fan groups were convinced that they should show good manners. Argentina’s World Cup victory in 1978 (as well as their Youth World Cup win in 1979) brought glory to the government and helped cover up the brutal repression it was carrying out during this period.

The Future
Argentina’s long tradition in sport shows no sign of weakening in the future.The nation continues to maintain interest in centuries-old activities inherited from the colonial period and to participate in a wide spectrum of modern sports; it also seeks opportunities for hosting major international events. For over a halfcentury women have been increasing their participation in Argentinean sport. The nation experienced diminished Olympic success during the period from 1956 to 2000 (a total of seven silver and seven bronze medals in this period; no medals at all in 1976, 1984, and 2000), but the 2004 Games produced four gold and eight total medals, which perhaps indicates a positive future trend for Argentina in the Olympic Games. The nation’s international prominence in soccer should continue, and it will probably increase its presence in rugby, men’s basketball and volleyball, and other sports.