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Sydney Olympics: Cubans Stunned by Baseball Team's Loss to United States

Aired September 27, 2000 - 6:27 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: As we reported earlier, the United States baseball team topped Cuba Wednesday for the Olympic gold.

Our CNN Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman reports that many Cubans got up early to watch, only to be let down in the end.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From 4:00 in the morning, millions of Cubans sat in front of their television sets to suffer the unthinkable: the defeat of their baseball team by the United States.

"We feel terrible," says this fan, "disappointed, with our wings clipped. It's as though the world had fallen on top of us."

At the so-called "hot corner," sparks were flying, as the multitude of sports fans declared the country in national mourning, not surprising in a country where baseball is the number-one sporting passion.

"This defeat makes us feel horrible," says this man. "We're used to winning."

And losing to the United States, well, that only makes it worse.

"Politics aside, there is a historic rivalry between the U.S. and Cuba," says this man. The majority here, though, conceded that the best team had won.

"We never want to lose to the Americans," says this man, "but they played very well. And I, and the rest of the people, want to congratulate the American team."

The blame was reserved for the Cuban team's manager, the target of countless insults that can't be translated for television.

(on camera): Adding insult to injury were the comments made before and after the game by the American team's manager, remarks that many Cubans here say were in bad taste and out of line with the Olympic spirit.

(voice-over): Tommy Lasorda said he dedicated the game and the American victory to the Cuban exiles in Miami.

"Athletes should win the gold medal for sport, not for politics," said this young man.

In Cuba, sports are certainly often political, but in this case, losing the coveted baseball gold medal to the Americans was more a question of wounded pride.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Losing is awful -- pretty bad.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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