| "> | | | | Sports |
| Road to the 2012 London Olympics! | | | | Did you know- The most popular sports are baseball, |
| Baseball | | | | boxing, table tennis, taekwondo, and weightlifting. |
| Did you know- Baseball is the national sport in the | | | | Because of the country's poor sports infrastructure, |
| Central American nation of Nicaragua. At the 1983 Pan | | | | Nicaragua --unlike Costa Rica and Panama-- has |
| American Games in Caracas (Venezuela), the national | | | | never produced an Olympic gold medalist. |
| team, backed by the Cuban Olympic Committee, won | | | | 2007 Pan American Games |
| the silver medal, ahead of America and the host | | | | Did you know- At the 2007 Pan American Games |
| country. The silver medal was the second for the | | | | Nicaragua reached 24th place in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), |
| country in the Pan American Games; it was the first | | | | winning a total of 2 bronze medals, outpacing |
| appearance for Nicaragua in the finals. In the next year, | | | | Barbados, Bolivia, Paraguay, and the US Virgin Islands. |
| the national team realized its dream of competing in | | | | Sportswomen |
| the Olympiad. At the Los Angeles Olympics, Nicaragua | | | | Did you know- This Spanish-speaking nation has |
| was the first Central American nation to compete in | | | | popular sportswomen: Maria de Lourdes Ruiz |
| the Games. Two years prior to the 1984 Olympics, the | | | | (athletics), Katerine Valle (judo), Beatriz Obregon |
| men's baseball team finished sixth place in the XIV | | | | (bowling), Xiomara Larios (track & field), Karla |
| Central American and Caribbean Games, behind the | | | | Moreno (weightlifting), and Maria Sacasa Cruz (cycling). |
| Dominican Republic, Cuba, Netherlands Antilles, | | | | Alexis Arguello |
| Panama, and Venezuela. | | | | Did you know- The nation's former professional boxer |
| Seoul '88 | | | | Alexis Arguello was named as the flag bearer of the |
| Did you know- As a result of its pro-Marxist policy, the | | | | Nicaraguan Team at the opening ceremony of the |
| nation's then-dictator Daniel Ortega Saavedra did not | | | | Games of the 29th Olympiad in the People's Republic |
| send athletes -like Cuba, Ethiopia, Albania and North | | | | of China. On the other hand, the National Olympic |
| Korea-- to the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea, | | | | Committee sent six athletes -athletics, shooting, |
| an anti-Communist nation in Asia. | | | | swimming, and weightlifting-- to the 2008 Summer |
| Claudia Poll | | | | Games. The country's best athlete was Karla Moreno, |
| Did you know- Costa Rica's famous swimmer Claudia | | | | who came in 11th in the 48kg category in the Women's |
| Poll -who was one of Latin America's most prominent | | | | Weightlifting Competition. |
| athletes of the 20th century -- was born on December | | | | Volleyball |
| 22, 1972, in Managua, Nicaragua. She was the first | | | | Did you know- By the early 1980s, the women's |
| Central American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal | | | | volleyball squad finished tenth place in the Central |
| in the mid-1990s. During Nicaragua's 1978 war, she left | | | | American and Caribbean Games. |
| to country. | | | | |