Y E S T E RY E A R S
Golden dreams Argentina hopes polo returns to the Olympics By Lucas Noel
The Argentine squad that won the Olympic gold in 1936: Andres Gazzotti, Jack D. Nelson (captain), Roberto Cavanagh, Luis Duggan, Manuel Andrada, Enrique Alberdi and Diego Cavanagh.
The South American country, which has dominated the sport for many years, aspires to once again have a chance at the world’s most important global event. A slow motion camera captures a close-up of soccer player Lionel Messi’s look of concentration before a final. Tennis player Juan Martín Del Potro raises the Davis Cup. Facundo Campazzo and Luis Scola come out dressed in light blue and white with the national basketball team to face NBA players. The Pumas hug each other, get excited and their chests swell hearing the verse ‘or let us swear to die with glory’ (from the national anthem) before a rugby test match. All of them are elite athletes who return to the most amateur of feelings when they wear the t-shirt with the colors of their country. All
58 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
of them are the envy of Argentine polo players. Of the five times polo was an Olympic sport, Argentina participated in two of those editions and won the gold medal in both of them. Since 1936, this discipline, in which the South American country is the world leader, has not participated in the schedule of the most important sporting event of all. And it is difficult for it to do so again under natural conditions. Its logistics are more complex than other sports due to the enormous number of horses each national team would have to transport. And to this we must add not a minor detail: face to face and without restrictions no nation today accepts the challenge of facing Argentina. Argentina now has eight players with 10-goal handicaps and 10 with 9. Maybe a 3 vs. 3 beach polo
