by Rod Hughes

An estimated 10 to 12 Costa Rican athletes will likely compete in Beijing’s Olympic Games in August, according to reporter Leslie Friday of Central America’s leading English language publication, The Tico Times. Now that ex-chairman Jorge Nery Carvajal has stepped down from the National Olympic Committee after months of acrimonious controversy, the way is clear for them to get their passports in order.

So far, six have qualified in international trials. Olympic rules do not allow the various national committees to name their own competitors lest the appointment process turn into a classist or political football. Mario Montoya will compete in the 200-meter freestyle in swimming, Nery Brenes in the 400-meter ash, Allan Segura in the 20-kilometer walk, Kristopher Moitland in Taekwondo (heavyweight), Federico Ramirez in mountain biking and the popular Henry Raabe in road cycling.

Costa Rica has not fared well in past Olympics except for swimming, where the remarkable Sylvia and Claudia Poll wowed spectators with stirling performances. Claudia brought home a silver and she is trying to make a comeback for this Olympics after being sidelined on a doping charge. (She said she was framed and most Costa Rican residents believe her. This reporter tends to, as well. She was always careful and it is easy for a laboratory to mix up urine samples, even by accident.)

Poll has had troubles equalling past performance in trials this year. She is a tall, pencil-slender, long-legged blonde who shows her Polish ancestry. (Indeed, a North American publication article during the past Olympics emphasized that she was “very blonde,” as if it were a violation of some journalist law mandating all Latin Americans to be short and dark.) The Pohl sisters were born in Nicaragua but were naturalized as Costa Ricans when they we young children.