René Navarro. (Picture: From Facebook)
The Abelardo Raidi award given by the Americas branch of the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS) went to Cuban sports commentator René Navarro, for the work of a lifetime.
For more than thirty years of professional practice, 70 year-old Navarro excelled internationally for his work as broadcaster in basketball, volleyball, athletics and cycling, mainly on global and regional tournaments, Cubasi reported on December 26.
Among other events, he was the narrator of the moment when Pedro Pérez Dueñas set the world record of 17.40 meters at the 1971 Pan-American Games in Cali, and when Alberto Juantorena won the titles in the 400 and 800 meters in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
He also narrated the victory of MarÃa Caridad Colón when she won the gold medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics (javelin), the so-called Race of the Century (100 meter finals, 1991 Tokyo World Championship), and the three crowns in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta, 1996 and Sydney, 2000, of the women’s volleyball team, which immortalized its players as the Spectacular Colored Women of the Caribbean.
Other professionals awarded the Abelardo Raidi prize have been Cubans Elio Menéndez and VÃctor JoaquÃn Ortega; Nicaraguan Edgar Tijerino; Paraguayan Pedro GarcÃa; Colombian David Canyon; and Ecuadorian Diego Arcos Saavedra, among others.
Winners are selected by way of the vote of the executive committee members of the Americas branch of AIPS, after receiving proposals from national associations.
