| y"> | | | | New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Spain, |
| From Basketball to Volleyball | | | | Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, |
| Did you know- By 1950, the men's basketball team of | | | | USSR, Venezuela, and West Germany. For political |
| Argentina had won the First World Tournament, at the | | | | reasons, a handful of nations did not send athletes to |
| expense of the United States and Chile. Fifty-two | | | | Argentina, among them Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and |
| years later, the squad from Argentina, accompanied | | | | East Germany. |
| by >its coach Rubén Mangano, made international | | | | Guillermo Vilas |
| headlines when they came in second place in the | | | | Did you know- During the years from 1976 to 1983, |
| Basketball World Championships in America. During the | | | | Argentina's tennis player Guillermo Vilas was one of |
| course of the global event, Argentina -- one of the | | | | Latin America's most outstanding professional athletes, |
| most popular teams-- had important figures: Fabricio | | | | along with Nelson Piquet (auto racing), Fernando |
| Oberto, Rubén Wolkowyski, Alejandro Montecchia, | | | | Valenzuela (baseball), and Wilfredo Benítez (boxing). |
| Hugo Sconochini, Andres Noccini, and, of course, | | | | In that time, he won four grand slam events. On |
| Emanuel Ginobili. Despite all of this, in the final match, | | | | January 6, 1976, during an interview with Barry Lorge |
| they lost 84-77 to Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). | | | | (Washington Post), Vilas said, "My life is like fiction, I am |
| However, two years later, the team of Argentina won | | | | all the time traveling, staying a few days and leaving, |
| the Olympic title in Athens, which set off a frenzy of | | | | meeting different people. Sometimes I eat breakfast in |
| celebrations in the Latin American republic. For the first | | | | America, fly and have dinner on a different continent. |
| time in Olympic history, a non-American/European | | | | To most people, this is not real. When I read, I like |
| team won the gold medal. At their arrival in Buenos | | | | things that people really observe and feel". |
| Aires, they were welcomed by a crowd of people. In | | | | IOC |
| 2001, Argentina had won the Tournament of the | | | | Did you know- Historically, Argentina -like America, |
| Americas. | | | | Greece, Great Britain, and Australia -- was one of the |
| Fencing | | | | first members of the International Olympic Committee |
| Did you know- The 22nd World Fencing | | | | (IOC). |
| Championships were held in Buenos Aires (Argentina). | | | | Volleyball |
| Twenty-nine countries sent national delegations to the | | | | Did you know- Buenos Aires hosted the Men's |
| World Fencing Tournament: Argentina, Australia, | | | | Volleyball World Cup in late 1982. By 2002 the global |
| Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, | | | | event was also held there. |
| France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, | | | | |