Cuban fencers defected?

[edew]

Heard on Paul Harvey's radio program today, two cuban fencers didn't go home after the Lisbon World Championships. Any idea who?

[JEC]

Ivan Trevejo Perez (Men's Epee - silver 96 olympics) and Elvis Gregory Gil (Men's Foil - silver 98 world championship)

Gregory has been sought by the Italian Federation according to LUSA (portuguese news agency).

The Eurosport site also has news <a href="http://www.eurosport.com/sport.asp?LangueID=4&SportID=27&StoryID=324464" target="_blank">news in italian</a>

<small>[ 08-27-2002, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: JEC ]</small>

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

I didn't hear that. Interesting, a bunch of Cuban kids defected in Canada while visiting the Pope. I guess Cuba is still a place to get away... from.

[JEC]

Trevejo and Gregory had complained many times that they were not able to stay at Spain or Italy for training preceding the world cup. Last year, Trevejo got a visa to France to train but the Cuban government did not let him go.

[Stryder]

Translated in hilarious fashion by Babelfish.

Passings two Cuban schermidori
[ 27/08/02 ] - According to sources of the Cuban embassy in Portugal, two athletes who have taken part to the World-wide ones of fencing to Lisbona have made re-enter in native land. Draft of one defection or a stay in authorized Europe is still not known if.

A source of the Cuban embassy in Portugal has rendered famous that two schermidori, Elvis Gregory and Ivan Trebejo, have not made re-enter to Cuba after Sample to you world-wide that they have been carried out from the 17 to 23 August to Lisbona. "we do not know where they are", it has added this source that it has not been possible to identify.

However, it is still ignored if draft of a defection or if the two athletes have been authorize to you to remain in the Old Continent, no question of asylum, in fact, still it has been introduced.

Gregory and Trebejo are two of the figures of enunciate of the Cuban fencing. The fiorettista Elvis Grégory, vice champion of the world in 1998, already has trained more times in Italy where it has numerous friends. The spadista Ivan Trebejo, vice olympic champion in 1996, has, from part its, numerous friendships in Spain.

The Cuban schermidori, in passed are already complain more times to you than not to be able itself to train in Europe, because of the financial problems, and this constitutes a brake for their progress. If, instead, it were be a matter of a defection, that would mean, without doubt, the end of the career of the two to a year of next the World-wide ones that will be disputed just to Cuba.

[JEC]

This was posted in the http://www.esgrimamex.com/cgi-bin/ul...2;t=000011;p=3

The news is that it seems that they are on vacation. Emilio [Arguello - Boston FC] interviewed Elvis and said to him that he was training very strong for the Olympic games. On the other hand, Emilio also interviewed to Sergei Golubitsky that was a referee (Lisbon) and told him that he was moving to Italy. He would be moving the GFC club from Holland to Italy at the end of this year.

So, it might be that they did not defected.

On the other hand, the Cuban embassy criticized them harshly in Lisbon, suggesting it that it was not expected or authorized.

Take odds ...

Defected