| "> | | | | Indianapolis, Indiana (U.S.A), sparking off celebrations in |
| The Lady of Costa Rica | | | | the Central American republic. Certainly the results |
| From Ricardo Prado (Brazil) and Ana Maria Schutlz | | | | were impressive for the size of the country, more than |
| (Argentina) to Alberto Eugenio Mestre (Venezuela) | | | | twice the size of Massachusetts. Curiously Costa Rica |
| and Ana Lallande (Puerto Rico), Latin America has had | | | | had not won a Pan American medal since 1951, when |
| notable swimmers, but none to compare with Silvia Poll | | | | the country's football team was runner-up at the First |
| Ahrens, a famous athlete from Costa Rica between | | | | Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In |
| 1986 and 1992. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Miss Poll, | | | | Indiana, Miss Poll was elected "Queen of the |
| whose parents were from Nordrein, Westfalia | | | | international Games". After that event, she captured |
| (Germany), moved to Costa Rica in the late 70s | | | | six gold medals in Cincinnati, America. |
| (during the Nicaraguan war). With support from her | | | | Nicaraguan-born Costa Rican swimmer Silvia Poll was |
| family -as several Latin American athletes-she won a | | | | twice named Best Athlete of Latin America (1987 & |
| silver medal in the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, | | | | 1988), ahead of Diego Armando Maradona and Ayrton |
| South Korea. | | | | Senna. Despite these achievements, she suffered a |
| Like Mireya Luis Hernandez (volleyball), Nadia | | | | serious setback when she was not backed by the |
| Comaneci (gymnastics), and Sonja Henie (skating), she | | | | nation's then-President Óscar Arias Sánchez (and |
| had been recognized early on as a prodigy. She had | | | | 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner). As a result, she could |
| started training with Francisco Rivas in the early 80s, | | | | not compete in many pre-Olympic tournaments in |
| together with other swimmers such as Marcela | | | | Australia, Europe, USSR and the United States. |
| Cuesta, Monserrat Hidalgo, and Sigrid Niehaus. The | | | | Without a doubt, she lost the chance to be an Olympic |
| rigorous training began to yield results in the mid-1980s. | | | | champ. |
| At the 1986 Central American & Caribbean Games in | | | | Today she, as famous as a football star in Central |
| the Dominican Republic, Poll, when she was only 15 | | | | America, is remembered not only for her |
| years old, picked up a total of ten medals; one of the | | | | achievements, but for her unique discipline. After her |
| best performances by a woman in sport history. But | | | | retirement from the national team, Latin America's |
| that was not all. | | | | swimmers were never as successful again at the |
| Silvia Poll & Óscar Arias Sánchez | | | | Summer Olympics until 1996 when Claudia, Silvia's |
| By August 1987, she picked up a total of eight Pan | | | | sister, won a gold medal in the Olympiad in America. |
| American medals ( 3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) in | | | | |