SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - After waiting through nearly eight years of planning, three years of building and at least six months of sweating, organizers of the XIV Pan American Games finally will see their work become reality tonight when the Games open their 17-day run at Santo Domingo's refurbished Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
And not a moment too soon.
The stadium, site of the track and field competition and others, was the last venue to receive approval from the Pan American Sports Organization. It got the OK Thursday morning, less than 36 hours before tonight's opening ceremonies.
Dr. José Joaquín Puello, a prominent surgeon and president of the Games organizing committe, said many elite Dominican athletes would participate in tonight's ceremonies -- expected to draw a crowd of 30,000 -- but declined to name them. The Boston Red Sox, however, said they have allowed pitcher Pedro Martínez to join former major-league star Juan Marichal in lighting the Pan American Games torch.
The lineup of entertainers also will have a Dominican feel, with a cast that includes recording artists Johnny Ventura, Milly Quezada and Wilfrido Vargas, as well as the National Symphonic Orchestra, the National Choir, The National Folkloric Ballet, and the National Dominican Ballet. More than 10,000 performers will take part in the ceremonies, with nearly 5,000 athletes expected to participate in the parade of nations.
The United States, whose delegation of 650 athletes is the Games' largest, will be led by Carl Eichenlaub, the 73-year-old boatwright for the sailing team who will carry the U.S. flag. It is believed to be the first time a nonathlete has been chosen by the U.S. team captains for the honor.
NATIONAL PRIDE
This teeming Caribbean capital has gussied itself up for the Games with banners, signs, billboards and posters welcoming visitors on nearly every street corner. And while tickets to the opening ceremonies cost as much as $100, well beyond the range of most Dominicans, more than a dozen sports -- including badminton, bowling, equestrian, shooting, rowing and cycling -- will charge no admission fee.
''When the Games come on, when that finally does occur, you see the patriotism kick in,'' says Greg Harney, managing director of international affairs for the U.S. Olympic committee. ``These [Games] are really a national project for the Dominicans.''
But they almost became a national embarrassment. Despite denials from officials here, plans were being made to move some events out of the country when it looked as if construction delays would prevent some venues from being finished on time.
However, thousands of workers toiled in double shifts -- working through two tropical storms -- to beat the deadline.
Fears of a transportation crisis also have been quelled, at least temporarily. A fleet of Korean-made buses -- so new the plastic covers were still on the seats -- showed up to whisk athletes from the airport to the nearby Games village.
Puello says the Games are expected to contribute $20 million to the Dominican economy in the short term -- and perhaps five times that number in the long term.
TV coverage of the Games, Puello said, ``will put the Dominican Republic on the mental map of many people as a tourist destination. We're expecting around 25,000 tourists and their money. . . . And that will leave footprints for the future because those people will return to our hotels, our beaches.''
CUBAN DEFECTIONS?
In fact, some of the athletes now might decide not to go home at all. A Cuban delegation of more than 620 athletes, journalists, coaches and dignitaries arrived Thursday, and Cuban authorities are fearing defections.
''We've heard the same exact thing,'' said Joe García, spokesman for the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation. ``I have to assume they are tremendously worried. The economic and political conditions inside of Cuba have never been worse. This is one of the ways out. And, clearly, people [would] take this opportunity and get out.''
Since pitcher José Contreras and longtime sports official Miguel Valdes defected in Mexico last October, Cuban athletes have competed only on a limited basis abroad -- and even then, the island's best athletes weren't always allowed to go. Cuba pulled out of last fall's Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador and sent such a ragged team to a recent international baseball tournament in Europe that it was beaten twice by the Netherlands.
Because the Pan Am Games are not an Olympic qualifier in baseball, the Cuban team here will be weak, too, missing major-league prospects Barbaro Canizares, Yobal Dueñas, Pedro Luis Lazo, Kendry Morales and Maels Rodríguez. The Cuban newspaper Granma reported the five were left off the team for having a bad attitude during the training sessions used to pick the Pan Am team, but government officials clearly fear one or more of the five would try to defect.
At least eight Cuban athletes defected during the past Pan American Games -- four years ago in Winnipeg, Manitoba -- including Danys Baez, who now pitches for the Cleveland Indians.
And in 1994, the last time the Cubans participated in a major multievent competition in the Caribbean, 42 athletes stayed behind in Puerto Rico.
''I am certain that those people that ask for asylum will receive it because the Dominican Republic has always been very generous with those who flee persecution in Cuba,'' García said. ``There's a huge Cuban-Dominican population there, they're working with us. And I'm sure it will be a very positive stay.''
But Puello warns against provocative appeals for Cubans to defect, as has happened in the past.
''The Cubans deserve respect,'' he said. ``The Games are not about political situations, [and] we are going to look after them like we look after the Brazilians or the Argentines or the Americans. The only thing I ask the Cuban community in Miami is respect them as human beings.''
