Cuba women's volleyball team, nicknamed Las Morenas Del Caribe, which translates to the brown women of the Caribbean, used to be one of the most dominant teams in Olympic history. They beat a Unified Europe team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics , China in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Russia in the 2000 Australia Olympics. Players such as Regla Bell, Regla Torres, Mireya Luis and Marlenis Costa played on each winning team throughout the 90's.
In a recent interview, captain of the 2000 Olympic team Regla Torres had this to say about the team's motivation for winning, "Some people might not understand it, but those living in Cuba in those difficult years can understand it very well. The people needed some sort of joy -- that was our motivation at the time." The difficulties of Cuba that Regla Torres is referring to pushes their amazing athletic accomplishment even further because of the adversities they had to overcome in Cuba.
Cuba, an island country in the Caribbean 90 miles south of Florida, went through a very difficult time during the 90's called the "Periodo Especial" which translates into the Special Period. The Soviet Union, Cuba's main ally and trade partner, disintegrated in 1991. This caused a chain reaction within Cuba that led to a lack of basic resources such as toiletries, medicine, food, fuel for transportation, electricity and many other basic necessities. These shortages were caused in part to the fall of the Soviet Union, but also because the United States had a firm economic blockade against the island.
Even though the "Special Period" was crippling Cuba, Fidel Castro, the president of Cuba, supported Cuba women's volleyball team and made sure they had sufficient provisions to train and prepare for their competitions. The victories the volleyball team obtained gave a suffering people a sense of joy, pride and hope for their country. The crisis in Cuba continued throughout the 90's until 2000 when Vladimir Putin re-established amicable trade relations with Cuba.
When I first learned about the incredible feat that Cuba women's volleyball team achieved I was amazed. But there have been several teams in sports who have achieved amazing feats such as the Los Angeles Lakers three peat, New York Yankees 27 championship rings, Real Madrid winning three consecutive Champions League and several other examples.
However, I emotionally connected to Las Morenas Del Caribe because of their ability to overcome the very high obstacles that stood around them. The joy on their face and the tears from their eyes after winning their third gold medal against Russia resonated because winning went beyond the sport of volleyball, but was a shining example of excellence for the people of Cuba and also people of African descent around the world.
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