News from Latin American Federations
Some great skiing at the 2000 Latinos in Laguna Los Morros in Chile The following are some of the reports that were made on this
event - Click on the above link to find out more!
99 Latinos - peru - Some Highlights
After many Latinos that I have attended, I must say that
the peruvian Latinos will go down as one of the most contested Latinos in 10 years.
The quality of skiers that attended this event was second only to the Worlds.
And it was an historic occasion as peru once again joined the ranks of the Pan Am
Region after a long hiatus. As well, Brasil showed it's full force after 8 years of
missing this event as a full team.
Some of the highlights included a 196 ft. jump by Simon
Siegert (Latin Record) on a 5 1/2 ft jump! His brother Esteban
also scored a Latin Record in the 17-21 division in the jump event (48.6 m). Arturo
Torres of Mexico, took home 4 Gold Medals in the Juvenil event with big wins in
all events. The Open Varones Slalom was spectacular. Nicholas Fuldaver
from Brazil, came from the back of the pack to score an impressive 2.5 at 11.25 m line to
take the lead. Rodrigo Miranda (Chile) was next and scored 1.25
buoys at 11.25 to grab second but, two more skiers were left. Javier Julio and
Jorge (Georgi) Renosto of Argentina. Javier eclipsed Rodrigo's
score by 1/4 buoy and now it was Jorge's turn. He ran his 13 meter pass with ease
but messed up at buoy 2 at 12 m. However, we wasn't done - with a Herculean
effort,
Jorge hacked his way to 3, scrambled to 4 and totally out of shape at 5, he cranked his
ski and I don't even know how he made 6 AND, out the gate! It was UNBELIEVABLE!
But he wasn't done and on his way back on the 11.25 line, he bobbled at 2 barely
missing buoy 3 to place second.
But, for the Host Country, peru and their fantastic dual
lake site 70 kms south of Lima, Saturday was their shining glory! In the Senior
Damas, they won their first Gold Medal when Delfina Wiese de Cuglievan
took the gold followed by Grimanesa Olcesa de Raffo placing third.
In Senior Varones, not to be outdone by his bonita esposa, Juan Carlos
Cuglievan (after a two week training session with Kreg Llewellyn), took the gold
in Senior Varones. But the shining moment, was not a gold, but a silver as, Grimanesa
Olcesa de Raffo skied again in the Open Damas division and with a tremendous
effort, took the silver medal. This event was watched by the President of the
peruvian Olympic Committee, Dr. Mario Suito, and, a member of the IOC, Dr. Ivan Dibos who
were very impressed by their country"persons" results.
peru is a magical country, full of surprises and contrasts. It has
amazing cultures that transcend even the ancient Egyptians and with the Inca Empire - it
was greater than any empire in the world. I traveled for a mere week after the
tournament and, am anxious to return. With the organization of the peruvians, I sure
that we will return in the very near future for even bigger and better events in the sport
of water skiing. Stay tune. As soon as someone sends me the total results,
they will be posted on this link.
peru has issued a bulletin for the 1999 Latin American Championships
and it contains excellent information about hotels and sightseeing tours in this mystical
country - Land of the Incas. Check it out by clicking on the above header.
Report From Brasil
Lots of thing has happened in the last year in the Brazilian Wakeboarding. ABW
(Brazilian Wakeboard Association) consider 98 the best year for the Sport here in
Brazil. We had our first tournament with six stops in three different states.
It was a very competitive championship where the winner was Marcelo Marques Giardi
(Marreco). We also had the first Latin American Open in the city of Rio de Janeiro
with riders from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. This was the beginning of a job to
integrate the Brazilians with our friends that speaks Spanish (in Brazil we speak
Portuguese). There was also three stops of the Carioca tournament (Rio de Janeiro
State) and the Santa Catarina State championship. With all of this we had eleven
championships in Brazil last year. The level of the riders has grown a lot in this
year, and finally is appearing more difficult tricks just like Wirly's, S-Bend, Mobius,
Crow Mobe, etc. And finally we had the first woman to complete an invert.
Our Mailing list had a growth of 63% and now we have 670 persons. We have an
information system via e-mail and the growth was 400% with almost 300 persons. On
the end of the year we began our e-mail discussion list with 50 persons subscribed in less
than a month.
We also create our own web page www.abw.com.br
During the year of '98 we had 136 different riders in the championships organized by
ABW. A growth of 72% against '97. With these numbers, now wakeboard is the
biggest Sport of the so called "behind the boat Sports" here in Brazil leaving
the three event way behind.
Also we had our first newspaper dedicated to wakeboard. And in the end of the
year, together with other four associations and federations, we founded the Brazilian
Federation of Water Ski and Wakeboard the represent our Sport in the COB (Brazilian
Olympic Committee) and have a better integration inside Brazil.
We are very happy with those numbers, and this encourages us to make '99 an even bigger
year.
Best Regards,
Flavio B. Castello Branco
flavio@castellobranco.com
Brasil and peru to be Recognized by their Olympic Committees
With the assistance of Waldo Miranda Domel (President of the COLAEN), and Jorge Renosto
Sr. (Secretary General of the Pan Am Region), both the peru and Brasil Water Ski
Federations have begun negotiations with their respective National Olympic Committees.
This is great news for the Pan American Region as it will allow both these countries to
send teams to the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg. As more news
progresses, we will keep you informed.
Mariana Ramirez - 1998 US Rolex Junior Master's Slalom Champ!!
Mariana Ramirez from Mexico (Latin American Champ) came from behind to win the US
Master's Slalom Championships on Sunday, May 24th/98. She is the first Latin Champ at this
tournament since Javier Julio did a few years ago. As well, she also placed 3rd Overall
behind Susie Lohr and Clementine Lucine (FRA). Mariana ran 3 buoys at 12 meters to equal a
US Masters Jr. Slalom Record set the previous day by Clementine Lucine and, as well jumped
33 meters and tricked over 5000 points.
peru to Host the 1999 Latinos
Confirmed at the Latin American Championships in Bogotá, peru will host
the 1999 Latinos for the first time in many years. peru has two new water ski lakes to ply
your trade and as noted by Colombian, Christian Siegert, "Anyway I am not drowning
yet (El Nino rains flood peru), we have two beautiful man made lakes here in peru with
turn around islands, (2) - 98 Nautiques and a beautiful club house with gym, Jacuzzi
and
everything a person might wish to have at a water ski lake, it is located 90 kms from Lima
and we are hoping to have the Latinos next year (1999)." Not to worry Christian, I
will be there along with the rest of the talented Latino Skiers. Things have turned around
in peru where the skiers are starting to climb the ranks into stardom. As Christian
mentioned recently; "By the way we finish the peruvian nationals championships today
and 2 National records were broken (senior men and open men), with 1 @ 35 off for the
seniors (Oscar de Osma - President of the Federation) and 4.5 @ 32 for the open Eduardo
Romero - so as you can tell the level is starting to come up!!!" What will happen
next year is anyone's guess.
A new directory for Federations in the Pan Am Region has be provided for you
information. Click on this link
Brazil has a new web page up and running and it looks great. As well they are
holding a major tournament on November 22/23 1997. Check out the results on their Web Page
Associacao Brasileira de Esqui Aquatico - (en español).
There are updates as of December 19th with lots of information on new Rankings Lists and
National Records for Brazil. Check out their page and give them some of your support. The
Webmaster understands English...
