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Puerto Rico has an Olympic team in the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, as well as international representation in many other sporting events including the Pan-American Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games, and the Caribbean World Series. Puerto Rican athletes have won 6 medals (1 silver, 5 bronze) in Olympic competition, the first one in 1948 by boxer Juan Evangelista Venegas. Although boxing, basketball, volleyball and baseball are popular, traditionally baseball had been the most popular sport, until recently being overcome by basketball. Puerto Rico has its own professional baseball leagues. San Juan hosted the Montreal Expos for several series in 2003 and 2004 before they moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. Puerto Rico has participated in the World Cup of Baseball winning 1 gold (1951), 4 silver and 4 bronze medals. August 8, 2004, became a landmark date for Puerto Rico's national olympic team when the basketball team of Puerto Rico defeated the U.S. basketball team in Athens, Greece, the current defending gold medallist and basketball powerhouse in Olympic play. On September 29, 2005, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium would be one of the sites of the opening round as well as the second round of the newly formed World Baseball Classic, a 16-country tournament featuring top players, which was held in San Juan in March 2006. Puerto Rico fielded its own team in that event, composed mostly of MLB players, which survived the opening round but was defeated in the second round. |
Puerto Rico Information: Inside
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