Second olympic rejection: Committee sides with Cuba's refusal to give diver his release
The Canadian Press. National Post Online. September 13, 2000
SYDNEY - Canadian diver Arturo Miranda has been denied a chance to compete at the Olympics again.
Miranda's appeal asking the International Olympic Committee to overturn its decision to rule him ineligible for the Olympics was rejected yesterday.
"We knew we were going to get a negative response," Mitch Geller, Canada's diving coach, said early today. "I thought they were quite regretful they had to give a negative reply."
Miranda, who was born in Havana, was also denied a chance to compete in Barcelona in 1992 due to Cuban financial constraints.
Miranda became a Canadian citizen in December. The Edmonton resident needed a release from his former country to dive for Canada.
Olympic rules say that if an athlete changes citizenship, his home country can veto participation for his new one for three years.
The Cubans refused to grant the release and protested Miranda's presence on the Canadian team. The IOC ruled him ineligible last week.
"I think the rule needs to be reviewed," said Geller.
"It should not apply across the board. It has been nine years since he represented Cuba."
Canada appealed to the Cubans "through all the channels to try and secure his release but the Cubans basically made a decision, a rule, invariably across the board, not to give releases. They won't look at individual cases."
Once the IOC made its decision, another appeal was filed with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. A decision was expected around midnight today (9 a.m. ET).
"Our chances are 50-50. But it's so hard to tell. We have some very valid points. We hope they are compassionate. We hope they rule in his favour, but we don't know whether they have tools."
Miranda isn't the only former Cuban athlete with this dilemma.
Cuban-born long jumper Niurka Montalvo won a gold medal for Spain at the 1999 world track and field championships, but Cuba has refused to release him for Sydney.
The IOC's rejection opens an old wound for Miranda, who quit diving after he was told just 15 days before the Barcelona Games that financial constraints would keep him from competing.
Miranda married a Canadian working in Cuba, moved to Ontario in 1995 and got back into diving as a coach.
He started diving competitively again in 1999, rekindling his Olympic dreams in Edmonton, where he has lived for the past year.
The 29-year-old won the three-metre event at the Canadian nationals in Thunder Bay, and was second at the Olympic trials, securing a berth.
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