Sport in Argentina
The sports in Argentina is characterized by the extraordinary relevance of men's soccer. The first popular sports idol was Jorge Newbery (1875-1914), who stood out as a fencer, boxer and aviator. The massive diffusion of the sport occurred in the first three decades of the XX century based on the popular passion for three activities: soccer, boxing and motor racing. Apart from those mentioned, sports that have reached the forefront of the world have been developed in the country, such as basketball, paddle tennis, polo, field hockey, roller hockey, tennis, futsal, soccer for the blind, cestoball, road cycling, golf, paddle ball (a variant of Basque pelota), rowing, rugby, softball, volleyball and yachting.
Other sports of considerable development are handball, swimming, speed skating, taekwondo, judo, track cycling, BMX, shooting, fencing, track and field, beach volleyball, surfing, motor boating, horse riding and turf. In the southern Andean area of the country, winter sports are widely practiced, especially skiing and snowboarding. The national sport is duck. Other sports of Argentine origin are the gaucha jineteada, padbol, cestoball, among others.
Argentina was one of the twelve countries —the only Ibero-American— that founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, being represented on the first Executive Council by José Benjamín Zubiaur, who served in that position until 1907. hosted the first Pan American Games in 1951 and also those of 1995, the only edition of the Pan American Winter Games in 1990, the South American Games of 1982 and 2006, the South American Beach Games of 2019 and the Youth Olympic Games 2018, the 1978 Soccer World Cup, 1950 and 1990 Basketball World Championships, 1978 Men's Field Hockey World Championships, 1981 and 2010 Women's Field Hockey World Championships, Men's Roller Hockey World Championships 1970, 1978, 1989, 2001 and 2011, the 1998 Women's Rink Hockey World Championship, the 1987 and 2011 World Polo Championship, the 1994, 2007 and 2019 WFA Futsal World Championships for Men, the World The 2006 AMF Futsal Women's Championship, the 1982 and 2002 Men's Volleyball World Championship, the 2001 Men's Rugby 7s World Cup, the Dakar Rally between 2009 and 2018, the 2000 BMX World Championship, the World Championships 1962 and 1977 Fencing Championships, the 1969 World Wrestling Championships (Freestyle and Greco-Roman), the 2017 World Freestyle Canoeing Championships, the 1966 World Show Jumping Championships, the 1927 and 2005 World Chess Championships, the 1986 and 2015 Men's and 1994 Women's Faustball World Championships, the 1994 Cestoball World Championships, the 1997 and 2014 World Speed Skating Championships, the 1903 and 1949 World Absolute Shooting Championships, the World Championships the 1981 Clay Skeet Shooting Championship, the 1981 Mobile Target Shooting World Championship, the 2013 Padbol World Cup, the 1994, 1998 and 2004 Padel World Championships, the 1962, 1970 and 2000 Golf World Cups, the 1963 and 2012 World Gliding Championships, as well as several world Sailing championships depending on the class: Tornado in 2006, Star in 1988, 2005 and 2015, Mistral in 2000, 49er and 49er FX in 2015, 470 in 2016, Soling in 2001, 2007 and 2018, Snipe in 1985, Optimist in 1992 and 2014, 420 in 2011, Lightning in 1969, J/24 in 1997 and 2011, 29er in 2007 and 2011, 505 class in 1969 and Cadet in 198 1, 1991, 2001, 2009 and 2016. Argentina is the country that hosted the Copa América the most times with a total of 9 occasions.
Also in Argentina, youth world championships were organized in various sports such as the 2001 and 2023 Under 20 Soccer World Cup, the 2010 and 2019 Youth Rugby World Championships, the 1997 U19 Rugby World Championship, the U21 Rugby World Cup 2005, Women's Field Hockey Junior World Cup 2001, Men's Roller Hockey Junior World Championship 2005, Men's U17 Basketball World Championship 2018, U21 Men's World Handball Championship 1995 Youth Men's Handball World Championship (under 19) 2011, the 2012 Youth Men's Softball World Championship, the 1993 Volleyball Men's Under-21 World Championship, the 2011 Volleyball Men's Under 19 World Championships and 2015 and the 2017 Under 18 Women's Volleyball World Championship.
Annual international competitions are also held such as the Buenos Aires Tournament and the ATP Tennis Tournament in Córdoba (the only Latin American country with 2 ATP tournaments), the Argentine Open Polo Championship (the most important in the world), the Buenos Aires Master of the World Padel Tour, the Vuelta de San Juan in cycling (the most important cycling competition in Latin America as it is the only one to be part of the UCI ProSeries), the Open of the Republic of Golf, the Argentine Grand Prix, the Argentine Motorcycling Grand Prix, annual stages of the Motocross World Championship and the Superbike World Championship and the Argentina Rally. It also hosted annual stages of the World Touring Car Cup between 2013 and 2017, the Rugby 7 Men's World Series from 1999 to 2002, Formula E between 2014 and 2017, the FIA GT Championship in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and Formula 1 in the periods 1953-1958, 1960, 1972-1975, 1977-1981 and 1995-1998. In turn, Argentina is, together with Chile, the country that has organized the Latin American Turf Grand Prix the most times with a total of 11 times, in addition to hosting some of the most prestigious turf competitions in the region.
History
The history of sport in Argentina dates back to the different native peoples who inhabited the territory of what from the XIX century would be the Argentine Nation. The Mapuche people, among other sports, practiced the palín, which reached great diffusion among the tribes that lived in the southern region of current Argentine territory, considered the most important indigenous game in South America. A very similar sport was also practiced by the cultures pilagá, tuff and mocoví. For their part, the Guarani people practiced a rubber ball sport (a product of American origin) played exclusively with the foot, which has been considered one of the antecedents of soccer.
During the Spanish colonization (XVI century-XIX), palín and other indigenous stick sports, mixed with the Castilian chueca and spread widely among the mestizo, male and female populations in the Río de la Plata region and Chili. Horse sports created by the gauchos also appeared, among which the duck, the stable races and the gaucho horse riding stood out. After independence (1810-1816), gaucho sports reached national diffusion. The Spanish conquerors also introduced bullfighting and the game of bocce, and the Basques in particular, the Basque ball. While bullfighting declined after independence until it was banned in 1899, bocce ball and Basque pelota will remain very popular until present times.
In the XIX century, sport began to be practiced in its modern form, regulated and organized by sports associations local and national, inserted world federations. In 1831 the Buenos Aires Cricket Club already existed and in 1833 a fencing school was established in Buenos Aires. In 1856, turfing became the first sport to be formally regulated, when the Corrientes racing regulations were drawn up. A decade later, fencing began to be practiced in the military and the first athletics tournament was held. In the last two decades of the XIX century, dozens of sports clubs and the first federations were created. The influential British community in Argentina spread the practice of sports such as polo, soccer, rugby and field hockey. Simultaneously, other sports disciplines such as boxing, cycling, artistic gymnastics, motor racing and aviation began to be practiced.
With the multi-sportsman Jorge Newbery, the first popular idol of Argentine sports, the modern sport-show began openly. In the 1920s, Argentine sport was established on the basis of the great popularity of three sports: soccer, boxing, and motor racing. From the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, the country began to achieve its first great achievements in world sport, through its Olympic teams, which obtained gold medals in boxing, polo, athletics, swimming and swimming in all the games until 1956. rowing.
In 1948, the Evita National Games were created, a children's sports competition to promote the mass practice of sport. The 1950s recorded the first Argentine world triumphs, outside of the Olympic Games. The pilot Juan Manuel Fangio won five world championships in Formula 1. The Argentine Men's Basketball Team won the first World Championship and the boxer Pascual Pérez became the first Argentine world champion, beginning a long saga of champions, who would make Argentina a power in professional boxing. At the same time, Argentine pelota pelota won the two gold medals in this specialty at the first Basque Pelota World Championship, dominating the discipline from then until today.
In 1955, a military dictatorship took power that persecuted a large number of athletes for political reasons -among them tennis player Mary Terán de Weiss, 35 members of the 1955 basketball team, Olympic rowing medalist Eduardo Guerrero, the swimmer Enriqueta Duarte and the athlete Osvaldo Suárez-and substantially reduced financial support for amateur sports, giving rise to several decades of strong sports decline, in general terms.
In 1960, Argentina was the only Ibero-American country to participate in the first Paralympic Games held in Rome. In Tokyo 1964 the Argentine delegation obtained 36 Paralympic medals (6 gold) and in Tel Aviv 1968 it obtained 30 Paralympic medals (10 gold), on which occasion the Paralympic athletics team came second in the women's competitions medal table and third in that of the masculine. In both games, the athlete Silvia Cochetti, the highest medalist in Argentine history, stood out with thirteen medals, five of them gold.
In 1962, the Basque National Pelota Team won the Basque Pelota World Championship.
In 1964, Independiente de Avellaneda won the first of the 25 Copa Libertadores won by Argentine clubs until 2020.
In 1967, Racing Club de Avellaneda won the Intercontinental Cup, the first of 9 that Argentine clubs would win, out of 44 played until 2004.
During the course of the 1970s there was a great diffusion of tennis, as a result of the international triumphs of Guillermo Vilas.
In 1973 and 1974 the National Wheelchair Basketball Team won the world championship at the IWAS World Games.
In 1974, the Basque National Pelota Team won the Basque Pelota World Championship for the second time.
In 1978, the National Soccer Team won the FIFA Soccer World Cup for the first time.
Also in 1978, the National Roller Hockey Team won the Men's Roller Hockey World Championship, becoming from that moment one of the world powers.
In 1986, the National Soccer Team won the FIFA Soccer World Cup for the second time.
In 2002, the Women's National Field Hockey Team won the World Championship, becoming the first women's sporting victory at the highest level, without this meaning ignoring the performances of other Argentine athletes such as swimmer Jeanette Campbell, athlete Noemí Simonetto, the tennis players Gabriela Sabatini and Paola Suárez with their duo Patricia Tarabini, the sailors Serena Amato and Cecilia Carranza Saroli, the swimmer Georgina Bardach and the judoka Paula Pareto. That same year, the Los Murciélagos soccer team for the blind won the world championship, ranking since then as the second world power in that sport.
In 2003, Marcela Acuña became the first Argentine boxer to win a world title (WIBA super bantamweight), popularizing women's boxing and paving the way for new champions who made Argentina a power in this women's sport.
In 2004, the National Basketball Team, led by Emanuel Ginóbili, won the gold medal at the Athens Olympic Games, one of the highest achievements achieved by the team.
In recent years, among the top-level world triumphs for Argentine sport, several Olympic achievements stand out, such as the gold medals obtained in 2008 by the Juan Curuchet-Walter Pérez duo in cycling, and in 2012 by Sebastián Crismanich in taekwondo and the three medals in judo, sailing and field hockey in 2016. In the Paralympic Games, the gold medal won by Yanina Martínez in the 100-meter dash in Rio de Janeiro 2016 stands out.
Other notable sporting successes in recent years are the 2016 Davis Cup, the 2016 Futsal World Championship, the world championships in roller hockey obtained in the women's modality in 2010 and 2014 and the men's in 2015, the World Championship of 2010 Women's Field Hockey and the seven world championships won in paddle ball between 2002 and 2014.
In 2022, the National Soccer Team won the FIFA Soccer World Cup for the third time.
State organization
Due to the federal nature of the Argentine State, the responsibility for the organization and diffusion of the sport is a concurrent faculty of the national State and each one of the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires. At the same time, many municipalities have organizations in charge of promoting sports at the local level.
The national state body in charge of organizing and disseminating the sport is the National Sports Secretariat, of the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of the National Executive Branch.
In 2009, the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner created the National Entity for High Performance Sports (ENARD), a mixed entity with the aim of raising a fund to develop national sports. It began operations in August 2010 and is financed with 1% of cell phone billing, along with funds coming directly from the State. On December 10, 2019, President Alberto Fernández creates the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Appoints Matías Lammens as owner.
Under the "Sports for All" program, the government established that certain competitions must be broadcast on open television, such as the Olympic Games (both in their summer and winter editions), Pan American Games, World Championships in which there are national representation, the Soccer World Cup, the Copa América (soccer), the Argentine Soccer First Division Championship, South American tournaments organized by the South American Soccer Confederation (CONMEBOL), the National Basketball League, the Argentine Volleyball League, National Rugby Club Tournament and TC 2000.
By sport
Chess
In chess, the figure of Miguel Najdorf stands out, who obtained the title of International Grandmaster, the highest individual recognition for a player in 1950, the year in which he participated for the first time in the Candidates Tournament in Budapest, finishing in fifth position. In 1953 he participated in his second and last candidate tournament, in Zurich, where he finished in sixth position.
Najdorf represented Argentina in the Chess Olympiads on several occasions. In the 1952 Olympics, in which Argentina won the silver medal, Najdorf won the first board gold medal.
Nationally, Grandmaster Roberto Grau stands out, considered the "father of Argentine chess".
Grau made his debut in 1922 in the national championship at the age of 22, where he finished third. He was champion of the Carrasco International Tournament, winner of the Argentine Chess Championship six times, Argentine representative in the Tournaments of Nations in Paris 1924, London 1927, The Hague 1928, Warsaw 1935, Stockholm 1937 and Buenos Aires 1939.
He was the founder of the Círculo de Ajedrez de Buenos Aires and Co-founder of FIDE (International Chess Federation).
In addition, he was the assistant (the technicality of this sport for coach) of the European chess player Alexander Alekhine in his duel against José Raúl Capablanca, in the final of the Tournament of Nations in Buenos Aires, a tournament in which Alekhine won.
Athletics
Athletics in Argentina showed important development until 1956, obtaining five Olympic medals and becoming the second Olympic sport behind boxing in the period 1924-1952. His greatest achievements occurred in the marathon, a discipline in which he obtained two gold medals with Juan Carlos Zabala at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games and Delfo Cabrera in London 1948 and a silver medal obtained by Reinaldo Gorno in Helsinki 1952. They also obtained silver medalist Luis Brunetto in the triple jump at the 1924 Paris Olympics and Noemí Simonetto in the long jump in London 1948.
After 1956, athletics was affected by political problems, lack of support, and the professionalization of the sport. Among the most outstanding athletes since then are Tito Steiner in decathlon, Alejandra García in pole vault and Antonio Silio in long-distance races.
In the last decade, it is worth mentioning the achievements of the pole vaulter Germán Chiaraviglio, champion of the World Junior Athletics Championships in 2003 and 2006, runner-up in the same competition in 2004 and bronze medalist in the 2006 World Cup of Athletics. In 2010, Braian Toledo won the gold medal in the javelin throw during the Youth Olympic Games, held in Singapore.
The governing organization of athletics in the country is the Argentine Athletics Confederation, an entity founded on September 19, 1954.
Motor Racing
Argentinian motor racing, along with soccer and boxing, integrates the traditional base of popular sport in Argentina. It has its beginnings at the end of the century XIX and achieved great popularity after the establishment of Turismo Carretera in 1937.
The greatest figure of this sport in Argentina is Juan Manuel Fangio, who was 5 times Formula 1 world champion with the record of four different brands: Alfa Romeo (1951), Mercedes Benz (1954-1955), Ferrari (1956) and Maserati (1957); in addition to being runner-up in 1950 and 1953. Considered by many to be the best driver in history, he was the greatest Formula 1 champion for more than 40 years until he was surpassed by Michael Schumacher in 2007 and Lewis Hamilton in 2019 (both with 7). He achieved 24 victories, 35 podiums, 29 pole positions and 23 fastest laps in 51 races held, registering the highest effectiveness in the history of Formula 1. He also holds the record for being the oldest driver to win the competition, with 46 years, 1 month and 11 days in 1957.
It is also worth mentioning José Froilán González, the first winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the history of Ferrari, after having triumphed at Silverstone in 1951. He also triumphed at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most toughest tests of motor racing and was runner-up in Formula 1 in 1954.
In the 1970s, the outstanding figure in Formula 1 was Carlos Reutemann, who throughout his career achieved a total of twelve Grand Prix, highlighting the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix. His best season was 1981, in the who finished as runner-up in the category. In the 1990s Juan Manuel Fangio II obtained the 1992 and 1993 IMSA GT Championship.
Argentina is the Spanish-American country with the most victories in the history of Formula 1 with a total of 38: Fangio 24, Reutemann 12 and Froilán González 2 (Colombia 7, Mexico 6 and Venezuela 1).
Franco Colapinto, the recent Argentine promise with Formula 1 aspirations, won the Spanish F4 Championship in 2019 with 11 victories, 14 pole positions, 10 podiums and 9 fastest laps in 21 races. He subsequently came third in the Toyota Racing Series, Formula Renault Eurocup (both in 2020) and Asian Le Mans Series (2021) championships. By participating in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans he became the second youngest driver in history to be part of it. He currently races in the FIA Formula 3 Championship since 2022 where he was able to win 2 stages, 1 pole position and 5 podiums. In 2023 he became a new member of the Williams Driver Academy where he aspires to reach Formula 2 in 2024.
In recent years, José María López stood out, who won the World Touring Car Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2016 (29 wins in 69 races), the 2021 edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans and the World Championship of FIA Resistance of 2020 and 2021. Other outstanding drivers in the World Touring Car Cup are Esteban Guerrieri with 13 stage wins, overall runner-up in 2019, third in 2018 and fourth in 2020 and Néstor Girolami with 7 wins and one runner-up in 2022.
Argentina hosted the Dakar Rally on 10 occasions between 2009 and 2018, being the country in the American continent and the eighth in the world with the most presences. The historical dominance in the quad category stands out with 7 titles achieved by Marcos Patronelli (2010, 2013 and 2016), Alejandro Patronelli (2011 and 2012), Nicolás Cavigliasso (2019) and Manuel Andújar (2021); to which are added 10 runners-up and 6 third places. In addition, Kevin Benavides obtained the motorcycle titles in 2021 and 2023 (in addition to the runner-up in 2018, 4th in 2016 and 5th in 2019) becoming the first Latin American rider to win in one of the 2 most relevant categories of the competition, as well as the first in the world to win two motorcycle titles with two different brands (Honda and KTM). With these 9 titles, Argentina is in fifth position on the general board, just below France, Russia, Spain and Italy. In trucks, the third place of Federico Villagra (2016) stands out and in cars a fourth and two fifth places of Orlando Terranova (2022, 2013 and 2014 respectively) who in turn records a total of 7 stages won. Argentina is the Latin American country with the most stages won in the Dakar Rally with a total of 97 up to 2023: 74 in quads, 11 in motorcycles, 7 in cars, 3 in SSV and 2 in trucks.
Other notable international achievements include: Manuel Andújar, 2011 FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship champion in the quad category; Domingo Marimón who obtained in 1948 the South American Highway Tourism Grand Prix, the longest and most dangerous motorsport competition of that time; the WRC3 world championship in 2001 by Gabriel Pozzo; Esteban Guerrieri's Formula Renault 2003 Euro Cup; Ricardo Risatti's Euroformula Open 2006; Norberto Fontana's 1995 Formula 3 German Championship
The main racetrack in Argentina is the one in Buenos Aires. It has hosted the Argentine Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Argentine Grand Prix of the Motorcycle World Championship and the 1000 km of Buenos Aires of the World Endurance Championship. Others that have hosted international races are the Potrero de los Funes Circuit, home of the FIA GT Championship; the Ciudad de Rafaela Autodrome, where he ran the USAC National Championship and the Termas de Río Hondo Autodrome, where he has competed in the World Touring Car Championship.
Currently the three most important categories of Argentine motor racing are Road Tourism, Super TC 2000 and Top Race V6, where drivers such as Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Juan Gálvez, Dante Emiliozzi, Héctor Luis Gradassi, Roberto Mouras, Oscar Castellano, Juan María Traverso, Ernesto Bessone, Guillermo Ortelli, Omar Martínez, Juan Manuel Silva, Norberto Fontana and Matías Rossi.
Basketball
The Argentine Basketball Confederation (CABB) is the body that governs the Argentine National Team and national basketball club competitions. It belongs to the continental association FIBA Americas and is associated with the Argentine Olympic Committee. It was founded on August 30, 1929 and is one of the eight national associations that founded FIBA.
The Association of Basketball Clubs (ADC), an entity founded on April 20, 1985, organizes the national men's basketball tournaments in Argentina, which cover a total of two categories, the highest category is the "Liga A", popularly known as the Liga Nacional de Básquet, below the national basketball league is La Liga Argentina, formerly known as Torneo Nacional de Ascenso which replaced "Liga B" in 1992, which is the second division of national basketball. The ADC is also in charge of organizing the women's basketball tournaments of the Women's League and a tournament that involves the formative categories of the "A League" clubs, the Development League. The third division and the provincial tournaments that provide teams for these competitions are organized by the Argentine Basketball Confederation (CABB), which in turn is in charge of organizing the National Team. Before the creation of the National League, the Argentine Club Championship was disputed, which was organized by the Argentine Basketball Confederation.
Despite having a rich past, with the title of World Champion in 1950 and fourth place in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, Argentine basketball entered a long period of postponement after the 1955 coup, when 35 players from the world champion squad were expelled due to their political ideas of sympathy with Peronism, forming what has been called "the erased generation". Three decades later, the recovery of Argentine basketball It coincided with the recovery of democracy in 1984, the year in which the National Basketball League (LNB) was created, which made it recover and gain popularity again. The irruption of Emanuel Ginóbili in the NBA and the great performances of the Argentine National Team at the international level contributed to a greater following by the public.
The Argentine men's national team is the only Latin American team to win the quintuple crown: World Champion, Olympic Champion, FIBA Diamond Ball Champion or FIBA Confederations Cup, American Champion and Pan American Champion. In addition, she is 13 times South American Champion.
In the 2002 World Championship held in Indianapolis (United States), the National Team coached by Rubén Magnano reached the final, losing to Yugoslavia by a score of 84-77. Two years later he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games of Athens 2004, the most important title in its history. In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, on the other hand, the team was defeated by the United States in the semifinals. Even so, they then beat Lithuania and won the bronze medal. To all that generation of Argentine basketball players who, in a period of more than 15 years, achieved gold, silver and bronze medals for the National Team in all the most important tournaments organized by FIBA and the IOC (Olympics, World Cup, FIBA Diamond Ball and the FIBA Americas Championship) is known as The Golden Generation, considered by some to be "the best team in the history of Argentine sports".In the 2019 World Championship held in China, the men's national team reached the final again, being defeated by Spain.
The most outstanding basketball player in the country is Emanuel Ginóbili, better known as Manu, a four-time US NBA champion with his San Antonio Spurs team in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
In the 2007-2008 season, the record was set with six national players participating in the American league -NBA- with:
- Carlos Delfino - Toronto Raptors
- Emanuel Ginóbili - San Antonio Spurs
- Walter Herrmann - Charlotte Bobcats
- Andrés Nocioni - Chicago Bulls
- Fabricio Oberto - San Antonio Spurs
- Luis Scola - Houston Rockets
A large number of Argentine basketball players play in European leagues, mainly in Spain and Italy.
Baseball
Baseball is a completely underdeveloped sport in Argentina and there are six amateur leagues; the Metropolitan Baseball League, the Salteña Baseball League, the Cordoba Baseball League, the Chubut Baseball League, the Rawson Baseball League and the Rosario Baseball League. The best players of these are those that make up the Argentine baseball team, however, popularity is so low that Customs does not consider the ball as a sporting article but as a toy, along with gloves and spikes.), reason for which it is very difficult to obtain the necessary elements to practice the sport.
Although it began to be played at the end of 1880, it was not until the last few years that success began to arrive at an international level. In 1995, the Gauchos, as the national team is known, defeated the United States and Puerto Rico and reached fifth place in the Pan American Games held in Mar del Plata. In 2004 he won the South American for the first time, played at the Ezeiza National Stadium, which is located meters from the AFA premises. In the 2010 edition of that same competition, he won the bronze medal in Medellín and in 2011, in front of an almost full stadium, he became champion of the South American organized in Argentina, beating Ecuador 5-0.
Billiards
Currently, Sebastián Giumelli, from Lujan, stands out, world champion in artistic pool in 2017 in the WPA (WPA, World Pool Association). While in another type of billiards, Italian billiards, known as Five Pins Billiards, Argentina is, together with Uruguay, the main power in America in the world open Five Pins billiards championships, where Argentina has several Argentine world champions, only surpassed by the number of Italian world champions. Billiards, one of the five subjects of study of the Bourbons, has been practiced in the country since colonial times and since then it has been associated with cafes, centers of sociability in the main cities. In the first decades of the XX century, billiards became widespread and practically all bars and cafes had at least one table. The clubs also became spaces for the widespread practice of billiards. That custom began to wane in the 1960s and today the practice is less widespread. Hand in hand with the rise of the sport, in 1937 the Argentine Federation of Billiard Fans was founded.
Bowls
The ancient game of bocce was brought to Argentina by the Spanish conquerors, and has been practiced since at least the 17th century. In 1783 it was banned by the colonial authorities. However, this game did not lose popularity and continued to be played clandestinely. The Argentine Bocce Confederation was created in 1929. In 2009 Raúl Basualdo was not only the first Argentine, but also the first player from any country on the American continent to become World Champion of Precision Bochazo in the Macon Championship (France).
Boxing
In Argentina, the first boxing championship was held in December 1899, consecrating Jorge Newbery, one of the forerunners of the sport in that country, as champion. Amateur boxing has developed widely since the beginning of the century XX, dominating the discipline in South America for several decades. As an Olympic sport, it has been the one that has contributed the greatest number of medals to Argentine Olympism, obtaining 24 out of a total of 74, which is equivalent to 32%. After the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, seven Argentine boxers had won an Olympic gold medal: Víctor Avendaño (1928), Arturo Rodríguez Jurado (1928), Carmelo Robledo (1932), Alberto Lovell (1932), Oscar Casanovas (1936), Rafael Iglesias (1948) and Pascual Pérez (1948).
Professional boxing, with the title obtained by César Cuenca in 2015, registers 40 male world champions. The first world champion was Pascual Pérez in 1954, followed by Horacio Accavallo, Nicolino Locche, Carlos Monzón, Víctor Galíndez, Julio César Vásquez, Miguel Ángel Castellini, Miguel Cuello, Hugo Corro, Sergio Palma, Santos Benigno Laciar, Gustavo Ballas, Ubaldo Sacco, Juan Martín látigo Coggi, Pedro Décima, Julio César Vásquez, Néstor Giovanni, Jorge Locomotora Castro, Marcelo Domínguez, Carlos Salazar, Juan Córdoba, Hugo Soto, Víctor Godoi, Pablo Chacón, Raúl Balbi, Omar Narváez (surpassing the historic Carlos Monzón, in number of defenses of his world title, with 15 successful defenses), Héctor Velazco, Jorge Rodrigo the hyena Barrios, Carlos Manuel Baldomir, Mariano Carrera, Juan Carlos Reveco, Hugo Garay, Sergio Gabriel Martínez, Víctor Emilio Ramírez Marcos René Maidana and Lucas Matthysse. It is also worth noting those who obtained titles from organizations not recognized by the FAB: Darío Mateoni, Ramón Britez, Pablo Sarmiento, Aldo Ríos and Javier Álvarez. Pascual Pérez, Walter Matthysse and Carlos Monzón have been included in the list of the best boxers of all time. Even without having been world champions, Luis Ángel Firpo, Justo Suárez, Oscar Bonavena and José María Gatica also stand out in the history of Argentine boxing.
Women's boxing has generated numerous world champions since the 2000s: Marcela Acuña, Mónica Acosta, Fernanda Alegre, Yésica Bopp, Victoria Bustos, Carolina Duer, Érica Farías, Carolina Gutiérrez Gaite, Yésica Marcos, Alejandra Oliveras, Patricia Quirico, Claudia Andrea López, María Elena Maderna, Marisa Núñez, Celeste Peralta, Ana Esteche, Edith Soledad Matthysse and Sabrina Pérez.
Canoeing
Canoeing, as they say in Latin America, or canoeing, as they say in Spain, began to be practiced competitively in Argentina in the 1960s. The first important competition was the Marathon del Río Negro regatta, in Patagonia. The sport quickly spread throughout the country. Many of the rowing clubs settled on the northern shore of Greater Buenos Aires expanded their infrastructure to also practice this sport.
In the early 1970s, the Tigre Canoeing Regatta Commission was created, an entity that in 1971 gave rise to the Argentine Canoe Federation (FAC), which in 1984 proposed founding and is one of the founding entities of the South American Council of Canoes and Kayaks.
The Olympic performance of Argentine canoeing has brought two Olympic diplomas. At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Javier Correa finished 5th in the 1000 meter individual kayak (K1) event. At the 2012 London Olympics, Miguel Antonio Correa and Rubén Rézola finished fifth in the 200m double kayak (K2) final.
Basketball
The International Cestoball Confederation, the extinct international organization that governed this sport in the world, organized a few editions of the cestoball world championship, where Argentina won the championship, being one of the teams in the world that won the most world championships in this Sport, winning the inaugural world championship in 1994, the team also won the first official South American cestoball championships.
Currently, there are no Cestoball World Cups, only the Argentine team has traveled to different countries around the world to carry out exhibition tours of the sport with the aim of making it known and expanding.
Cestoball is a sport that arose after making several ball and basket sports compatible, Argentine basket ball that is practiced in South America, Dutch korfball and English netball.
It is a sport invented by the Argentinian physical education teacher Enrique Romero Brest in 1903. His goal was to create a game geared towards women as part of his larger goal of promoting physical education and sports among young people, including them as a structural part of the teaching system. The sport consists of the confrontation of two teams of six players, whose objective is to obtain a ball without the ability to bounce, to pocket it through passes and throws in a basket with a mouth parallel to the ground, guarded by the opposing team and located on top of a post, each one at one end of the playing field.
Cestoball is widely spread among Argentine women because it was a suggested sport for women in the official education system.
The sport is regulated by the Argentine Cestoball Confederation (CADQ), to which 12 provincial federations are affiliated, gathering a total of 5,000 affiliated players, all amateurs. The main clubs are located in Buenos Aires such as Gimnasia y Esgrima de Villa del Parque, Club Náutico Hacoaj, Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires and Vélez Sarsfield.
Cycling
Argentine cycling has had an outstanding participation in the country's performances in international competitions. In the Olympic Games, it has contributed a total of thirteen Olympic diplomas, thus becoming, along with yachting and preceded by boxing (30), the sport that has obtained the second highest number of Olympic diplomas. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Juan Curuchet —the best cyclist in Argentine history— and Walter Pérez won the gold medal in the Madison event. The same duo had won the world title at the 2004 Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne, in the same event. Previously, Juan Curuchet, along with his brother Gabriel de él, won silver and bronze medals at the World Cup in Cali and Trexeltown in 1997, among other achievements.
Cycling was introduced to Argentina in 1898 by the Italian community that settled after the great wave of immigration that lasted between 1850 and 1950, organizing itself in the traditional Club Italiano of Buenos Aires, initially called Italian Cycling Club.
In the first decade of the 20th century, cycling became one of the most popular sports in the country, building lots of velodromes. Then the practice of road cycling spread.
The first great champions of Argentine cycling were Martín Remigio Saavedra from Mendoza and his brother Cosme Saavedra. The former won more than 300 competitions (200 on the track and 100 on the road). Another outstanding cyclist was Clodomiro Cortoni, twice Pan-American champion (1951 and 1955) and 4th in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, in the test of a kilometer against the clock.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, Jorge Batiz stood out, twice world runner-up in speed. Batiz also won in 1958, together with the Italian Fausto Coppi, considered among the most important cyclists of all time, the Six Days by Bicycle, one of the most renowned competitions held in the country.
The adventure of Argentine cycling on the international route began with two pairs of brothers: Los Haedo (Juan José and Lucas) and Los Richeze (Mauro and Maximiliano), who emigrated from the country in the mid-2000s, becoming packaging specialists or sprinters; in fact, Maximiliano is currently considered by cycling specialists as the best pitcher in the world. Other prominent international cyclists are Jorge Giacinti, Gerardo Fernández, Juan Pablo Dotti and Eduardo Sepúlveda. Special mention for Juan Antonio Flecha, a cyclist born in Argentina but who moved with his family to Spain as a child, where he trained in cycling running for the Iberian country, considered the best runner in this country on pavé terrain in history..
Although it is a popular sport in the country, the base of national cycling, which has the most intense and important track and road cycling calendar in the country, is located in the Province of San Juan.
Cycling competitions in Argentina:
Professionals: Argentine Cycling Time Trial Championship, Argentine Road Cycling Championship, Return to San Juan (since 2017)
Amateurs: Tour of the Sun San Juan, Return to San Juan (until 2016)
Disappeared: Tour of Argentina, Tour of San Luis
BMX Cycling
Argentina also had good results in the BMX Cycling World Championship. Javier Colombo obtained the BMX Cycling World Championship in 2006, while María Gabriela Díaz was the three-time BMX world champion in the same competition in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
Cricket
Cricket has been practiced since 1806 due to the influence of the British army during the capture of Buenos Aires in the First English Invasion. The first match of the national team was held in 1868 against Uruguay.
The sport gained some popularity due to the participation of the men's national team in the Cricket World League, in regional tournaments, and the women's team in the ICC Americas championship. It is the most winning team in South American Championships in history.
Duathlon
Argentina has a rich past in this sport, Oscar Galíndez being perhaps the most relevant Duathlon athlete in the country. Galíndez won the Duathlon World Championship in 1995 in Cancun, Mexico. With that 1995 world gold, Oscar Galíndez is not only the only Argentine to win said world championship in seniors / adults, but to this day he remains the only Latin American to win the Duathlon World Championship. Galíndez was also South American and Pan American champion, as well as winning famous races in Brazil. The world championship consists of running 55 kilometers non-stop, divided into: first 10 kilometers running on foot, then 40 kilometers running on a bicycle, and, finally, again 5 kilometers running on foot until reaching the finish line of the race.
Horse riding
In the past, the country had great exponents in this discipline, the most prominent being Carlos Moratorio who in 1966 won the World Eventing Championship and the silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Footgolf
In 2010, the Argentine Footgolf Association was founded to promote the practice of footgolf, a sport born in 2009 in the Netherlands, a hybrid between golf and soccer, although a Spaniard is also credited with its invention. In 2016, Argentina hosted the second World Senior Footgolf Championship that took place in Pilar, where Cristían Otero became world champion in the individual category. Otero also won other prestigious tournaments such as the Pro Am in the United States and in Europe, especially in Italy.
Football
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Soccer is the most popular sport in Argentina, the one with the most federated players (900,000 in 2019, equivalent to 2.0% of the population), and the most practiced by the male population recreationally or non-federated, from childhood, in which it reaches almost all, to the age of sixty. Nine out of ten inhabitants declare they are supporters of a soccer team.
The Argentine Soccer Association (AFA) was founded on February 21, 1893. It is the eighth oldest soccer federation in the world. The first category tournament, the First Division, played annually since 1893 without interruption -although the first league tournament in the country had already been held in 1891- is one of the oldest in the world, behind the leagues of Great Britain and the Dutch one. Below the second-category tournament, the National Primera B, the tournament system is divided into two branches: in one, the clubs affiliated directly to the AFA participate, organized into three tiers (First B, Primera C and First D); in the other, the clubs affiliated indirectly to the AFA, organized in three steps (Federal Tournament A, Regional Federal Amateur Tournament and Regional Leagues).
Argentine soccer clubs are the ones that have won the greatest number of international titles in the world (75), being the ones that have won the Intercontinental Cup (9) and the Copa Libertadores (25) the most times. Adding the sporting successes of the national representatives and the official achievements of the clubs at the international level, Argentine men's soccer is one of the most successful in the world.
The Women's Soccer Championship is organized by the AFA and has been held annually since 1991. Since March 16, 2019, women's soccer is professional and has three categories: First Division A, First Division B and the First Division C. As of the 2021 season, the Federal Women's Soccer Cup is played, an official competition organized by the Argentine Soccer Association, which consists of a preliminary phase and a final phase.
The Argentine Soccer Team is one of the eight teams that won the Soccer World Cup, having won it in Argentina 1978, Mexico 1986 and Qatar 2022, in addition to having reached the runner-up in Uruguay 1930, Italy 1990 and Brazil 2014 He also won two Olympic gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and two silver medals in Amsterdam 1928 and Atlanta 1996. He won the America's Cup fifteen times, in which he also came runner-up fourteen times, won one the Confederations Cup, of which he twice won the runner-up.
In addition, at the senior level it is the team with the most official cups in history, with twenty-two, including the three World Cups, the fifteen America's Cups and the Confederations Cup, to which must be added two interconfederation titles: the Championship Pan American Soccer of 1960 and the Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup of 1993 and 2022.
At the youth level, they won the U-20 Soccer World Cup six times, in which they came runner-up once, they also won the U-20 South American Championship five times, the U-17 South American Championship four times, the U-15 South American Championship once and the U-23 South American Pre-Olympic Tournament five times. He also leads the soccer tournament at the Pan American Games, with seven gold, two silver, and three bronze medals.
In 2003, the Argentine Women's Soccer Team qualified for the first time in the Women's Soccer World Cup, created in 1991, qualifying again in the 2007 Women's Soccer World Cup. initial round, but showing an evident evolution. In the 2019 Women's Soccer World Cup, Argentina managed to score points for the first time in its history, although they failed to qualify for the round of 16. They equalized 0-0 against Japan, selected who was the current runner-up in the competition, and then fell 1-0 against England. In the third match of Group D, there was a historic comeback against the Scottish National Team, drawing 3-3 after being behind by three goals. He was the first selected in history to overcome a disadvantage of that difference.
In 2006, Argentina won the South American Women's Championship for the first time, defeating Brazil 2-0, thus qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which is the first participation of a Spanish-speaking South American team in that discipline.
Futsal
Futsal is a discipline in constant development in the country. It is organized by two entities: the Argentine Indoor Soccer Confederation and the Argentine Soccer Association.
The Argentine Indoor Soccer Confederation (CAFS) was founded in 1964 and is affiliated with the AMF. Since 1976 it has organized the Argentine Championship of Provincial Selections and since 1980 the Argentine Championship of Clubs. The competition organized by the Argentine Football Association is made up of various regional tournaments (the most important being the AFA Futsal Championship held since 1986). The champions of these tournaments participate in the National Futsal League.
The most important achievements of the Argentine Futsal Team are:
- at the AMF, the 1994 and 2019 World Championships and the 2007 sub-campaign, and in the C-20 category, the 2014 World Championship and the sub-campaign in 2018. In a feminine category, he won the AMF's Women's Futsal Women's Championship sub-camporate in 2017.
- at FIFA, the 2016 World Cup, the 2021 World Cup and the fourth place in the 2004 World Cup, as well as three times the championship in Copa América (2003, 2015 and 2022) and six times the sub-campeonate (1992, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2011 and 2017).
Today, many Argentine futsal players compete in professional leagues in Europe. This sport is the most popular in the province of Tierra del Fuego.
Football for the Blind
Within the variety of futsal, Argentina stands out in the modality of soccer for the blind. The national team, called Los Murciélagos, has won the world championship twice (2002, 2006), the gold medal at the World Blind Games in Seoul 2015, as well as the silver medal in the 2004 Paralympics, and twice the bronze medal at the 2008 Paralympics and 2016 Paralympics. He also won the America's Cup for blind soccer.
Beach soccer
Beach soccer is also practiced in the country. Argentina was one of the four participants, along with Brazil, the United States and Italy, that organized the first international competition in Miami in 1993. It has participated in all the unofficial world championships organized since 1995, obtaining its best position in 2001, when it finished third His greatest achievement in this sport was obtaining the Conmebol Beach Soccer Championship in 2013, being together with Brazil, the only countries to win said continental title in South America.
The modern soccer ball
From the point of view of game elements, in 1931 in Argentina, in the city of Bell Ville, the modern, touchless soccer ball was invented, originally known as the superball.
American Football
The Argentine National Football Team, together with the Uruguayan National Team, are the protagonists of the first official American football match in South America, after the establishment of the Silver Bowl in 2005, which pits the two teams against each other. Los Halcones, as the team is known, lost the first two editions and won the first in 2007. The tournament was not played the following year as the Uruguayan national team could not appear and subsequently won all the Silver remaining bowls. The team is made up entirely of amateur players from Buenos Aires, while coach Luis Jiménez is of Mexican origin.
The Argentinian American Football Association annually organizes a small amateur league that currently has six teams. The finalists dispute the Austral Bowl. The current champion is Corsarios de Buenos Aires.
Despite the low popularity of this sport in Argentina, the country managed to project a couple of players to the most powerful league in the world, the NFL. The most notable case is that of Martín Gramática, who until today is the only South American to win an NFL Super Bowl (the most relevant event in this sport). He did it with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2002/2003 season, scoring 12 points (2 field goals and 6 extra points) in the decisive game of his team's 48 points, which would ultimately win Super Bowl XXXVII. (Super Bowl number 37 in history).
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is one of the oldest sports practiced in Argentina. Its first antecedents are found in the gymnastics practices of the Military College of the Nation founded in 1869. In the 80s of the XIX century two leading Argentine gymnastics institutions were created: the Buenos Aires Gymnastics and Fencing Club (GEBA), founded in 1880, and the Swiss Gymnastics Society, founded in 1885, the latter of which disappeared in the 1980s.
In 1892, GEBA organized the First Gymnastic Tournament in Plaza Euskara. The first Argentine championship was held in 1930, resulting in the national champion Héctor Tula, from GEBA. In order to promote the mass practice of gymnastics, the Municipality of Buenos Aires installed gymnastic apparatus in various parks. This is how gymnastic centers were established in Parque Centenario since 1928, where great gymnasts were trained, such as Vicente Caudo, coach of the Olympic team at the 1948 London Olympics, Ángel Demarchi, Mario Fizbein, Alcides Fracchia, Enrique Rapesta and Pedro Lonchibuco. In the 1930s, the Municipality removed the devices from the squares.
Córdoba, was the first province in which gymnastics was developed, under the impulse of Roberto Mario Tulisse who in 1943 focused his work on the Parque Sarmiento gym and the Olimpia Club. From there came Juan Caviglia, six times Argentine champion and Olympic gymnast Hugo Pelatto (five times national champion), Lorenzo Iparraguirre (national champion in 1973 and 1976), among others.
At the beginning of the 1940s, the German professor Gustavo Neumann, a former crew member of the ship Admiral Graf Spee sunk in 1939 in the Río de la Plata, settled in Mendoza, spreading gymnastics in that province.
In Rosario, gymnastics was disseminated from the Rosario Provincial Club, one of the most prominent in the country in this discipline, by Rubén Antonio Pecile, delegate to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics accompanying Carlos Pizzini. Pecile also dedicated herself to building a high-performance women's team, including Martha Deschams and Marta Eguaburo.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Federico Molinari, a gymnast from Rosario specializing in rings, was the first Argentinian athlete to qualify for an Olympic final, finishing in 8th place.
The sport is regulated by the Argentine Gymnastics Federation.
Golfing
Golf is governed in Argentina by the Argentine Golf Association, an entity created on September 3, 1926
Roberto De Vicenzo and Antonio Cerda won the World Cup of Golf at team/team level in 1953 when the PGA World Cup was known as Canada Golf Cup. Also in the PGA, De Vicenzo won the 1967 British Open and was second in the 1968 Augusta Masters. Meanwhile, Ángel Cabrera won the 2007 US Open and the 2009 Augusta Masters, being the first Latin American to win there.. In veterans tournaments, De Vicenzo won the 1980 US Senior Open, while Eduardo Romero won the 2006 Tradition and the 2008 US Senior Open.
Among the most important Argentine golf competitions is the Republic Open, which with more than 100 years is the seventh oldest open in the world, the Abierto del Centro, played in Córdoba since 1927 and the Personal Olivos Golf Classic, also valid for the PGA Tour Latin America. In the year 2000 the Buenos Aires Golf Club hosted the World Cup won by David Duval and Tiger Woods. In 2014, the Olivos Golf Club hosted the first America's Golf Cup.
Handball
The practice of handball, or handball, has considerably developed in Argentina. In the last two decades, the men's National Team has evolved to become one of the most important in the Americas, having won seven of the eleven Pan American Handball Championships at the senior team level, played between 2000-2018 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010)., 2012, 2014, 2018), gold medal at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara (2011) and Lima (2019), silver medal in Santo Domingo (2003), Rio de Janeiro (2007) and Toronto (2015) and bronze in Mar del Plata (1995) and Winnipeg (1999). In the South American Games, the men's team won two of the four finals played up to 2014. Worldwide, the best placement in the World Championships has been 12th place in the tournament held in Sweden (2011).
So far, the women's team has won a gold medal in the Pan American Championship (2009), two championships in the South American Games (2006 and 2010) and four silver medals and one bronze in the Pan American Games.
In recent years, youth teams have shown considerable improvement, placing 7th in the 2005 World Championships (Qatar) and 4th place in 2007 (Bahrain) for boys and 6th place in women in 2006 in Canada.
The sport is regulated by the Argentine Handball Confederation, affiliated to the South American Handball Confederation, the Pan-American Handball Federation and the International Handball Federation. The Argentine Handball Confederation is the institution responsible for organizing and regulating national handball tournaments at the national level. Founded on October 15, 1921, it is the oldest handball federation in the world. As the governing body of this sport at the national level; the CAH orders and directs the national and international activity of Argentine handball; draws up the sports calendar of the activity and brings together all the provincial entities of the discipline in the territory of the Argentine Republic, arranging and controlling their actions.
The CAH organizes the Argentine National Team tournaments and the National Club tournaments in three categories (from highest to lowest, A, B and C) for the adult, youth and cadet divisions, both in the female and male branches. The best teams from each confederation participate in the category A tournaments, in the B, those of second hierarchy, and in the C, the third in level. The first two of the Men's National Adult A Tournament participate in the Pan American Men's Handball Club Championship.
Field Hockey
Argentina was the first South American country where field hockey was practiced. This sport has been practiced in the country since the first decade of the century XX, mainly from the influence of the British immigrant community that adopted it as one of the favorite sports to be disseminated through "English" schools and colleges, of great predicament in the middle and upper sectors. In 1908 the Argentine Hockey Association (AAH) was founded, attached to the Hockey Association of England (HAE). Due to the active female participation since its inception, it is one of the sports that most promoted the entry of women into sports in Argentina. Field hockey is practiced in schools and clubs throughout the country, especially among women.
Argentina maintains a wide sporting superiority in the practice of field hockey in the American continent, both in women and men, both teams having won most of the Pan American gold medals and without having failed to play any final.
In the first half of the 1970s, excellent results began to be obtained in world competition, especially the women who were twice runner-up in the world in 1974 and 1976 and finished third in 1978. However, the The lack of state support in the 1980s would have a negative impact on the consolidation of the high performance achieved. It was from the 1990s and especially from the year 2000, that the performance of the women's team, known as Las Leonas, would reach the highest sporting levels in the world, exciting the population and popularizing the sport. Between 2000 and 2022, Las Leonas won two World Championships, five Olympic Games medals, seven Champions Trophy, one World League, one Hockey Pro League, and seven Pan American Games championships.
Among the important Argentine hockey clubs, the Quilmes Atlético Club, Club Atlético San Isidro, Club San Martín, Belgrano Athletic, San Isidro Club, Hurling Club, Mitre, Club San Fernando, Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Muni) stand out., Lomas Athletic Club, Gymnastics and Fencing of Buenos Aires (GEBA) and Club Universitario de Rosario.
Luciana Aymar is the most outstanding player in history. She has been voted the best hockey player in the world eight times and in 2008 she was declared Hockey Legend by the FIH (International Hockey Federation).
On the other hand, the men's team, better known as Los Leones, has obtained outstanding achievements by obtaining the gold medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, the bronze medal in the 2014 World Championship and in the Champions Trophy of 2008 in addition to ten gold and four silver medals in the Pan American Games.
There are 32 federations of hockey clubs directly associated with the Argentine Hockey Confederation (national entity in charge of regulating and organizing the sport) that associate some 123,000 federated players and 22,000 federated players throughout the country (since October 2014), more than triple the number of those who were registered in the year 2000, when there were 39,000 practitioners.
Argentine hockey is structured around municipal associations and provincial leagues with their corresponding tournaments. At the national level there are three major tournaments:
- The National Hockey League, for ladies and gentlemen, with two divisions, A and B.
- Argentine Clubs, for ladies and gentlemen, with two divisions, each with two groups: A1-A2 and B1-B2. The winning clubs of Division A (1 and 2) ascend to play National League B.
- Argentina of Selections, for regional selections of ladies and gentlemen, Major, Sub-21, Ascenso A and Ascenso B.
The regional club tournaments are:
- Bonaerense
- South Bonaerense
- NEA Knights
- NEA Ladies
- Centre Which Knights
- Centre Cuyo Damas
- NOA Caballeros
- NOA Damas
- Patagonia Damas
Roller Hockey
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Roller hockey is a sport widely practiced in the Cuyo area, mainly in the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza. The quality of the players is international.
In the female modality, the Argentine National Team, better known as Las Águilas, is the team that has won the most world championships, with six, the last of which was obtained at the World Skate Games Argentina 2022. Also during this competition, the men's team obtained its sixth world championship while in the men's modality Argentina is the third country in history, behind Spain and Portugal. It should be noted that in this event the U-19 male team was also crowned champion. This event consolidates the roller hockey teams as those that have contributed the most international cups to the Argentine Republic.
In the men's category, Argentina is the only Olympic champion in history, winning the gold medal in roller hockey, played as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Among the best players in history stands out Daniel Martinazzo, consecrated in 1978 with the Olimpia de Oro award as the best Argentine athlete of that year. Other outstanding players are David Páez among the men and Luciana Agudo among the women.
The Argentine A-1 National League is the biggest roller hockey club competition in Argentina. It is organized by the clubs of Argentina, through the Executive Council of Clubs (CEC) independently of the federations and associations to which they belong.
Gaucho horsemanship
The gaucho rider, Argentine rider or gaucho dressage is a characteristic and traditional equestrian sport of Argentina, which integrates the folk culture of that country, particularly the gaucho culture. The sport consists of the rider having to hold himself for between 6 and 15 seconds on a colt (bagual). It is done in several categories: clean mane or bald foal, southern rump or leather, rough, with countertop, without boleadoras, saddle, etc., or combinations.
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There are two basic styles of gaucho jineteada: the surera and the northern valleys. The first is usually done riding only on a hide and with the foal driven by a bridle in the mouth, while the second uses the full implement and the foal is led by a guatana or semi-guatana, a circular piece of leather placed in the mouth. of the horse.
The rider's clothing is regulated to maintain gaucho traditions. There are strict rules for spurs, reins and the whip or guacha.
Among the gaucho riding tournaments, the National and International Festival of Dressage and Folklore of Jesús María stands out, which is held annually in January in the Province of Córdoba.
Judo
In 1906, the Sarmiento Frigate was in Japan during one of its preparation trips. The then Commander Adolfo Díaz was looking to hire a Jiu-jitsu and gymnastics teacher for the cadets of the Argentine Navy. The one chosen for the job was the 2nd Kyu Yoshio Ogata, a student then 21 years old who was raised in the Kodokan after the death of his father in the First Sino-Japanese War. He embarked on the Frigate on August 3 and sailed from Yokohama port. Already based in Argentina, it was the aristocrat and athlete Carlos Delcasse who recommended him as an instructor to the Argentine Federal Police, making Ogata a Jiu-jitsu and gymnastics teacher at the Cadet School founded by Ramón Falcón. In 1914 he tried to return to Japan but World War I made it impossible for him, so he remained in Argentina as an instructor in the Gendarmerie. In 1938 he retired and founded his own gym in the capital to teach Jiu-jitsu and Judo, remaining a teacher until his death in 1970. Judo became a widely practiced sport in Argentina, both recreationally and competitively..
In world championships, up to 2016 and in relation to other countries on the continent, it ranks fifth, behind Cuba, Brazil, the United States and Colombia, with two gold medals and two silver medals. The first world title was obtained in 2003 by Daniela Krukower in the (-63kg) category at the World Championships held in Osaka, Japan.
In the Olympic Games, Argentina won two medals achieved by Paula Pareto in the (–48kg) category: bronze in Beijing 2008 and gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016, who with this last award became the first Argentine woman to be Olympic champion. Said athlete also achieved fifth place in the 2012 London Games and became champion in the 2015 World Championship held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
In the Pan American Games, Argentina ranks fifth in the all-time medal table with 46 medals.
Swimming
Swimming is a widely practiced sport in Argentina, both in its modalities of swimming pools, and in fluvial and maritime open waters. It was one of the first sports to be practiced by women in the country.
The first historical achievement of the first level was the gold medal obtained by Alberto Zorrilla in the 400-meter freestyle, at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. At the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, Jeanette Campbell obtained the silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle while the third Olympic medal was obtained by Georgina Bardach at the 2004 Athens Olympics by obtaining the bronze medal in the 400-meter meddley.
Paddle tennis
Paddle tennis is a massive practice sport in Argentina that has allowed the country to be the first world power, both in its male and female version.
Practiced since the early 70s, paddle tennis had a massive boom in the 80s and 90s, making Argentina the country with the largest number of practitioners and courts in the world, reaching in 1993 the number of 4 5 million players and 35,000 game tracks. After the initial massive boom, the practice contracted considerably, but without losing mass.
In the thirteen editions of the Padel World Championship that has been held every two years since 1992, Argentina won the men's competition eleven times (1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2022) and the women's competition eight times (1992, 1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012). In turn, it holds four runners-up in the men's branch (1998, 2008, 2010 and 2021) and eight in the women's (1998, 2000, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2022).
6 of the 7 editions of the World Padel Tour (professional padel championship played since 2012) have had at least one Argentine champion, highlighting the 5 titles of Fernando Belasteguín and the 2 of Juan Martín Díaz, in addition to Sanyo Gutiérrez and Maxi Sánchez, both with a title.
The Argentine Fernando Belasteguín is the greatest exponent of world padel, having been number 1 in the world ranking for 13 consecutive years. In his record, 5 world padel championships stand out (2002, 2004, 2006, 2014 and 2016), the 5 World Padel Tour already mentioned and 170 tournaments in 190 finals played. He was the youngest World No. 1 in history at just 22 years old. Together with Juan Martin Diaz, they were the only couple in history to spend 1 year and 9 months undefeated, winning 22 consecutive tournaments (between September 2005 and May 2007).
The sport is organized and regulated by the Argentine Paddle Association.
Duck
In 1953 the duck was declared a national sport. It was invented by the gauchos who inhabited the pampa, and there are testimonies that attest to its existence as early as 1610. In its beginnings it was practiced with a dead duck, or sometimes alive, placed inside a bag, from which its origin comes. name.
In the 19th century, gambling was banned by the government and punished by the Catholic Church with excommunication, however However, it survived in the fields, practiced irregularly. In 1937 Alberto de Castillo Posse wrote the first regulation, transforming it into a sport.
It is regulated by the Argentine Duck Federation, created in 1941. It has a European equivalent, horseball, although its rules differ slightly.
Basque ball
Basque pelota is the sport that has brought the most international titles to Argentina, winning 48 world championships in 19 editions of the Basque Pelota World Championship, obtaining 25 runners-up and 18 bronze medals. He has even won the general medal table twice in the editions of (1962 and 1974), an achievement that only Argentina, Spain, France and Mexico could achieve.
In Argentina the paddle ball or Argentine ball is widely spread, a variety of the Basque ball invented in the country that uses a wooden paddle called a paddle, due to the fact that originally the bovine palette. The game is very popular throughout the country, being promoted mainly by the Basque community.
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, in which Basque pelota was presented as an exhibition competition, Argentina won the gold medal in both paddle disciplines (leather paddle and rubber paddle).
In the Pan American Games, Argentina has won 13 golds, 5 silvers and 9 bronzes, thus placing it in the second step of the historical medal table, below Mexico.
Argentina has given several world champions of Basque pelota, both in the specialty of pelota and in the rest, standing out among others, Aarón Sehter, the most awarded and laureate pelotari in the history of pelota, winner of thirteen world titles and a record of 120 games without defeats, and Ricardo Bizzozero, eight times world champion (share and leather paddle) and chosen three times as the best pelotari in the world in the leather paddle modality (1974, 1978, 1982). Pelotaris are Eduardo Ross, Juan Labat, Vicente del Río (considered the best share pelotari of all time), Fernando Elortondo, Gerardo Romano, Néstor Delguy, Roberto Curto, Domingo Olite, etc.
The game is organized and regulated by the Argentine Pelota Federation.
Polo
It was introduced to Argentina by English immigrants around 1875. The Argentine Polo Association (AAP) is the governing body for polo in Argentina. It is a non-profit civil association established on September 14, 1922 in the City of Buenos Aires. The institution organizes the most important polo tournament in the world, the Argentine Polo Open Championship, which is held at the Campo Argentino de Polo in the City of Buenos Aires. It also oversees the remaining polo tournaments in Argentina, establishes the rules for polo in Argentina and is responsible for interpretation in case of doubt, imposes disciplinary measures and decides on the handicap of players active in Argentina. The AAP is affiliated with the International Polo Federation (FIP), the world governing body for polo, and the Argentine Olympic Committee.
Historically, Argentina was and continues to be the undisputed leader in this sport in the international high goal. Argentine polo players are the most prominent internationally, participating in tournaments around the world. The Argentine Polo Team has won the World Polo Championship 5 times (1987, 1992, 1998, 2011, 2017), being first in the historical medal table (in addition to having a runner-up in 1995 and 2 bronzes in 1989 and 2001). However, participating teams must have a handicap of up to 14 goals; It is for this reason that the best exponents of polo cannot take part in this championship. While polo was an Olympic sport, Argentina participated twice, obtaining the gold medal in both, at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games with Arturo Kenny, Juan Miles, Guillermo Brooke Naylor, Juan Nelson, Enrique Padilla and Alfredo Peña, and at the Berlin 1936 with Luis Duggan, Roberto Cavanagh, Andrés Gazzotti, Manuel Andrada and Juan Nelson.
Argentina won gold in the only edition that was played in the 1951 Pan American Games. Other awards are: 1 of the 3 Supernation Cups, 6 of the 8 Americas Cups, and 5 of the 7 Polo Nations Cups.
Currently in Argentina, the three most important polo tournaments in the world are played: the Argentine Polo Open Championship, the Hurlingham Open and the Tortugas Open, which make up the honorary Triple Crown. Coronel Suárez was the first team to achieve the ideal handicap of 40 goals, is the top winner of the Argentine Open Polo Championship with 25 victories and has won the Triple Crown 5 times. Among the most prominent teams of the 2000s and 2010s are Ellerstina and La Dolfina.
In April 2022, the Women's Polo World Championship was held for the first time at the Campo Argentino de Polo in the city of Buenos Aires, where the national team became champion after beating the United States 6-2 in the end. The team was made up of Agustina Imaz, Catalina Lavinia, Azucena Uranga and Paulina Vasquetto.
Rowing
Among the main achievements are the gold medal obtained by the quiet duo Capozzo and Eduardo Guerrero in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, the bronze and silver medals obtained by Alberto Demiddi in the 1968 and Munich 1968 Olympic Games 1968 and Munich 1972 and the bronze medal obtained by Julio Curatella and Horacio Podestá in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Demiddi was also world champion after winning the 1970 World Rowing Championship in Canada.
In the Pan American Games, Argentina holds 44 golds, 32 silver and 43 bronzes, located with these 119 medals in the second position of the historical medal behind the United States.
rugby
Rugby has been played since approximately 1873 in Argentina. At first it was played by British residents in the country and from 1910, there were already numerous Argentine players. The Argentine Rugby Union (UAR), an institution that organizes rugby at the national level in Argentina, was founded on April 10, 1899. It is one of the oldest rugby federations in the world. In 1987 she became a member of World Rugby by being invited to the first Rugby World Cup and in 1988 she participated in the founding of the South American Rugby Confederation, currently known as Sudamérica Rugby. As the UAR is the national union, the other regional unions in Argentina are affiliated to it.
The largest rugby venues in the country are in Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Rugby Union), Rosario (Rosario Rugby Union), Córdoba (Cordobe Rugby Union), Tucumán (Tucumán Rugby Union) and Mendoza (Cuyo Rugby Union). The sport is widespread throughout the country and it is the only American country that has a significant number of clubs that regularly practice it, even surpassing the United States and Canada.
The Argentine Rugby Championship was the main national tournament for teams from provincial rugby unions that took place between 1945 and 2017. In its 73 editions, the most winning teams were: Buenos Aires with 37 championships, Tucumán with 11 championships, Córdoba with 7 championships and Mar del Plata, Rosario and Mendoza with 1 championship each.
The main club competition is the National Club Tournament, which has been held since 1993. Until 2022 the winners of the tournament are the following teams: Hindú Club de Buenos Aires with 11 championships, SIC de Buenos Aires with 4 championships, Goblins Rugby Club of Rosario with 3 championships and CASI of Buenos Aires, Jockey Club of Rosario, San Cirano of Buenos Aires, Club San Luis of Buenos Aires, La Tablada Rugby Club of Córdoba, Alumni of Buenos Aires, La Plata Rugby Club of La Plata and CUBA from Buenos Aires with 1 championship each.
The men's national rugby team, better known as Los Pumas, is the most prominent in the American continent and has come to be among the top four in the world, having participated, with varying luck, in all the world championships of this sports specialty. His best performance has been in the 2007 World Cup, where he obtained third place (Bronze Medal) after having triumphed against the local team France (twice), Georgia, Namibia, Ireland and Scotland losing only in the semifinals with who would be the champion, the South African representatives.
In 2012, the team began playing the Tri-Nation Tournament against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, which upon joining became the Rugby Championship.
The men's rugby 7s team won fifth place and an Olympic diploma at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Jaguares is an Argentine professional rugby sports franchise, created in 2015, owned by the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR). He manages two teams: Jaguares and Jaguares XV. Jaguares is the franchise's first team and has participated since 2016 as a professional team in Super Rugby, Sanzaar's regional franchise championship, against top-level teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan. It represents the entire country and plays at home at the José Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires. Jaguares XV is the second team of the franchise and as of 2019 it participates in the main national rugby tournament in South Africa, the Currie Cup, establishing its sports headquarters in the South African city of Potchefstroom. Much of the creation of the franchise is due to the actions of Agustín Pichot, who represents the country in World Rugby and SANZAAR. In the 2019 Super Rugby competition, they reached the final, losing 19-3 to the Crusaders. from New Zealand.
Rugby has had significant growth at the national level in the last 10 years in terms of quality of play, number of players who play it and number of followers. Although rugby in Argentina has been practiced since late from the 19th century, it has only had a great growth in the last decade (2007-2017). According to data from the World Rugby ranking in Argentina there are 105,151 registered rugby players, it is estimated that in total (added amateurs) there are 138,241. In this way, the country occupies position No. 9 in the world ranking in number of players.
Some of the most emblematic players of this sport are Hugo Porta, Agustín Pichot, Ignacio Corleto, Felipe Contepomi, Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma, Juan Martín Hernández, Patricio Albacete, Juan Manuel Leguizamón, among others.
Softball
Softball is especially popular in the city of Paraná, province of Entre Ríos.
With many financial limitations and little private and public support, the sport was organized nationally in the 1960s, both for men and women. In the 1970s, Argentine softball participated in some international competitions. In 1980, the men's team participated for the first time in a major tournament, disputing the V ISF Senior Men's World Championship, held in Tacoma, United States. In 1981, Paraná hosted the founding congress of the Pan American Softball Confederation. In 1983, the Argentine softball team participated for the first time in the 1983 Pan American Games, where they obtained the extraordinary result of beating the United States, although they later lost the remaining games. In 1989 the Argentine Softball Confederation organized the Pan American Championship in Paraná, when the Nafaldo Cargnel World Cup Softball Stadium was built in that city, considered " the cathedral of Argentine softball".
In 1990, the women's national team participated for the first time in a world championship, in Normal, United States. In 1995 Paraná was chosen as the special venue for the men's and women's softball competitions of the 1995 Pan American Games, held in Mar del Plata. In 1997 Argentina obtained its first international achievement, by achieving fourth place in the World Youth Championship held in Newfoundland, Canada. In that tournament, the pampean pitcher Lucas Mata stood out, one of the greatest players in the history of Argentine softball, breaking the records in world championships for strikeouts (97) and tickets pitched (57), as well as throwing a perfect game against Venezuela.
In 2009, the Senior National Team finished fifth in the 2009 Pan American Softball Championship,however, the most important achievements of the National Team were obtaining the World Championship in 2019 (being the only Spanish-speaking country to obtain said title), the gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games and two Pan American Championships. Argentina reached the pinnacle of world youth softball, winning two consecutive world championships held in Paraná, Entre Ríos in 2012 and in Whitehorse, Canada in 2014.
The body that regulates this sport is the Argentine Softball Confederation (CAS).
Surfing
In Argentina, despite the fact that the climate is not as benign in a large part of the country's coast, unlike countries with coasts in tropical or Caribbean zones, surfing is practiced, especially on the Buenos Aires coast and in cities such as Mar del Silver. World surfing is divided into two large organizations, the ASP, which organizes the "ASP World Tour" and ISA, which organizes the "ISA World Surfing Games", this last association/federation, ISA, is the only surfing entity that recognizes the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games. Argentina in ISA has two senior world champions, Leandro Usuna, world champion in 2014 and 2016 in the "ISA world surfing championship", and Santiago Muñiz in 2011 and 2018, who has the record of being the champion of the youngest ISA world in history, at just 18 years old.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo was introduced to Argentina on June 22, 1967, when three Korean masters of this martial art, Han Chang Kim, Nam Sung Choi and Kwang Duk Chung, arrived in this country. The three arrived on a cargo ship and both Choi and Chung intended to go to Paraguay to engage in trade, but Kim convinced them to settle in Buenos Aires to start the practice of taekwondo in Argentina.
Taekwondo quickly seduced a large number of young Argentines and by the beginning of the 1970s, it was already widespread in several cities of the country and in 1974, General Choi Hong Hi, creator of taekwondo and president of the International Federation of Taekwondo Taekwondo (ITF), visited Argentina for the second time.
At that time the impact of the divisions of the Cold War in Korea led General Choi to clash with the South Korean government and he had to go into exile in Canada. The Korean government then promoted the creation of another regulatory organization, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Since then, in Argentina and the rest of the world, taekwondo schools have been divided between those that adhere to the ITF and those that adhere to the WTF, which over time gave rise to two different styles of martial art, taekwondo-ITF and taekwondo-WTC. The recognition of the WTC by the International Olympic Committee meant that only this style has an Olympic expression. (CAT) is attached to the WTF and recognized by the Argentine Olympic Committee (IOC). The ITF, for its part, was divided into three factions when Choi Hong Hi died in 2002 (ITF-Chang Ung, ITF-Tran Trieu Quan and ITF-Choi Jung Hwa).
Among the Korean teachers who taught taekwondo in Argentina in the early years are the three founders, Han Chang Kim, Nam Sung Choi and Kwang Duk Chung, who were later joined by others such as Chong Seo Lee, Dae Chol Yang and Chung Moon Jung.
In October 1975, the first National Tournament was held, the winner being Carlos Ouro. In 1977 the first Argentine Championship was held, with Pedro Florindo winning in a memorable final against Carlos Ouro.
Among the Argentine successes in this sport, the gold medal obtained by Sebastián Crismanich (less than 80 kilos category) at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and those obtained by Crismanich himself at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara and by Alejandro Hernando at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata (less than 64 kilos category). In addition, Lucas Guzmán won the bronze medal at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games, the gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games and third place at the 2019 World Championships held in Manchester, England. Besides, Mauro Crismanich won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Taekwondo Championship, held in Denmark.
Among the women, Vanina Sánchez Berón has also stood out, who obtained the first Olympic diploma in this sport for Argentina at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and a silver medal at the Santo Domingo 2003 Pan American Games. In 1995, she was runner-up in the world at the World Cup held that year in Manila, Philippines.
In the taekwondo-ITF Argentina style, they have historically obtained very good international results, including the organization of the III World Championship held in Resistencia in 1981 and the XI in Buenos Aires in 1999. Argentina, as a country, emerged world champion twice, at the 2003 XIII Championships (ITF Choi Jung Hwa Fraction) in Seoul and the 2007 XIV Championships (ITF Choi Jung Hwa Fraction) in Birminham. Among the practitioners of this style are Javier Dacak (gold medals in hand knife breaking at the 1974 and 1978 World Championships), Azucena Zorzón (gold medal at the 1981 World Championships and 1990), Noemí Prone (best female competitor award at the 1990 World Championships and gold medal at the 1992 World Championships), Soledad Serrano (gold medals at the 2003, 2005 and 2007 ITF World Championships -Fracción Tran Trieu Quan), Natalia Mauas, Diego Marrero, among others.
Tennis
Tennis in Argentina has been a sport practiced massively since the 1970s, with the use of clay surfaces predominating, in the modality of brick dust.
The Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) is a non-profit civil association that covers all activities related to tennis in Argentina. It was founded on September 2, 1921. Between federations and clubs there are more than 200 organizations affiliated with the AAT.
The most important competitions that take place in the country are the ATP Tournament in Buenos Aires and the ATP Tournament in Córdoba, both of which are part of the ATP World Tour 250 group of tournaments. They are two of the four tournaments that make up the so-called Latin American tour on brick dust that takes place at the beginning of the year, between the end of the Australian Open and the start of the Indian Wells Masters. In 2006, more than 64,000 people attended the ATP Tournament in Buenos Aires during the seven days of competition, making it the third ATP "International Series" with greater public attendance, behind that of Sydney and Los Angeles. The winningest player is Guillermo Vilas with eight individual titles in this tournament.
Single
Argentine tennis has won five Olympic medals (Gabriela Sabatini, silver in Seoul 1988, Javier Frana-Christian Miniussi, bronze in Barcelona 1992, Paola Suárez-Patricia Tarabini, bronze in Athens 2004 and Juan Martín del Potro, bronze in London 2012 and silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016) and has been four-time team world champion in 1980, 2002, 2007 and 2010, beating Italy, Russia, the Czech Republic and the United States respectively (the runner-up was also reached in 1989, 2005 and 2011), thus having the third best historical performance in the competition, only behind Germany and the United States. The Davis Cup has also been won in 2016, beating Croatia and being the second time in history that a country wins the competition always competing as a visitor (the other case was France in 2001) and 4 runners-up were also achieved (1981, 2006, 2008 and 2011). In said competition between 2002 and 2016, 1 title, 3 runners-up, 7 semifinals and 3 quarterfinals were achieved, having one of the best performances in the world.
Between singles and doubles, at the ATP (men's) level, Argentines have won more than 400 titles; and at the WTA level (female) more than 150.
The first internationally prominent tennis player was Mary Terán de Weiss, who in the 1940s and 1950s was among the top 20 players in the world. For his part, the first standout among the men was Enrique Morea, who reached the top 10 in the ranking and was the first Argentine to win a Grand Slam title (Roland Garros 1950 in mixed double)..
The most outstanding player in its history has been Guillermo Vilas (winner of 62 ATP tournaments in singles, including Roland Garros 1977, the United States Open 1977, Australia 1978 and 1979, as well as the Masters 1974), who in In 1977 he was recognized by the specialized press (including World Tennis magazine) as the No. 1 player in the world, despite the fact that he reached second place in the ATP ranking.
Among the women, the most prominent was Gabriela Sabatini number 3 in the WTA ranking and winner of 27 singles tournaments (among them the 1990 US Open and the 1988 and 1994 WTA Tour Championships), who, in addition to being the doubles champion of the 1988 Wimbledon edition, is the only one to win Grand Slam titles in two modalities and lift the maximum trophy in the Cathedral of tennis.
In addition to those mentioned, others have obtained exceptional sporting achievements, in the individual field: José Luis Clerc won 25 ATP titles, Juan Martín del Potro 19 (among which the 2009 United States Open stands out), Gastón Gaudio 8 (including Roland Garros 2004) and David Nalbandián 11 (including the 2005 Masters Tournament). In doubles, Paola Suárez was the first Argentine to reach first place in the world ranking (she was 9th in singles), obtaining 44 titles (among them, Rolland Garros in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005, the 2002, 2003 and 2004 United States Open and the 2004 Australian Open) and Gisela Dulko, also became number 1 in the modality and won 17 tournaments (including the 2011 Australian Open). In mixed double Javier Frana and Patricia Tarabini won Roland Garros in 1996.
In wheelchair tennis, Gustavo Fernández stands out, who won two Roland Garros (2016 and 2019), two Australian Opens (2017 and 2019) and one Wimbledon Championship (2019). In addition, he was a finalist at the United States Open in 2014. In the doubles category, Gustavo won the Wimbledon Championships in 2015 and the Roland Garros Tournament in 2019.
Argentine tennis is full of records, being able to name some such as:
In the doubles match of the semifinal series against Russia, in the 2002 edition, the record for the duration of a doubles match in the competition was achieved: 6 hours and 20 minutes. The protagonists of said record were Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin for Russia and Lucas Arnold Ker and David Nalbandian for Argentina. The match was won by the Argentine team 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6 and 19-17.
The longest singles match in the history of the Davis Cup was played and won by Argentine Leonardo Mayer who beat Brazilian Joao Souza in Buenos Aires 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7 -5), 5-7, 5-7 and 15-13.
Argentina in 2016 and France in 2001 are the only countries to win the Davis Cup by competing and winning all their away series.
Teams
Argentina won the Davis Cup in 2016 and is, to date, the only Latin American country to hold said trophy. It was also a finalist in four editions (1981, 2006, 2008 and 2011). Argentina also won the ATP Cup four times (1980, 2002, 2007 and 2010), being the second country with the most titles.
Volleyball
Indoor volleyball
Volleyball (generally called "voley") is a popular sport in Argentina. This sport was introduced to the country in 1912 by the Young Men's Christian Association. In 1932, the Argentine Volleyball Federation was founded, together with the Basket Ball Federation. The following year, the first national first division championship was organized, consecrating the INEFA in the women's category and the YMCA (Youth Christian Association) in the men's category.
The first official regulations were published in 1936, and the regulations for passes and player classification were later approved. In 1939 the size and weight of the balls were regulated, in 1941 the Federation joined the Argentine Sports Confederation and the Argentine Olympic Committee. The following year it is resolved that volleyball and basket ball go their separate ways.
The country has five national leagues, three for men and two for women.
- Masculina: Liga de Volleyball Argentina (Liga A1), Torneo Argentino de Clubes (Liga A2) and Liga Federal Masculina (Serie B1)
- Women: Women's League of Argentine Volleyball and Federal Women's League of Volleyball
The men's National Team participated for the first time in an official international competition in 1951 at the South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, reaching fourth place. Also in that city, the first participation in a World Volleyball Championship took place in 1960, in which the national team finished in fifteenth place.
In the men's World Volleyball Championship, Argentina hosted the edition held in 1982 in which it carried out one of the best campaigns in its history, taking third place. Argentina again organized the 2002 World Men's Volleyball Championship, when it came out sixth.
At the Olympic Games, the men's team won bronze medals in Seoul 1988 and Tokyo 2020, reached fourth place in Sydney 2000 and fifth place in Athens 2004, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. At the Pan American Games In 2019, the National Team obtained its third title in this tournament, after reaching first place in the 1995 and 2015 Pan American Games.
Since its creation in 1990, Argentina has been invited by the FIVB to participate in 11 of the 20 editions of the Volleyball World League, a tournament that brings together the sixteen best teams in the world. In 1999, Argentina organized the final round (the best 6) that was played in Mar del Plata and for that reason they participated in it, finishing in sixth place. In 2009, he qualified for the first time to play the final round of the 2009 World Volleyball League, after beating France, he lost the three subsequent matches he played against Serbia, Cuba and Brazil but the won sets allowed him to finish in the 5th.ª position, the best placement in the history of the League.
Beach volleyball
On the beaches of the Atlantic coast and the large rivers, beach volleyball is practiced. The practice is relatively limited by the weather, since having cold weather in winter, its massive practice is not possible throughout the season. In 2001 Mariano Baracetti and Martín Conde won the World Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria. The same duo in 2002 obtained the world circuit of beach volleyball world tour, known as the World Circuit of Beach Volleyball.
Gailing
Gliding is an aeronautical sport that has developed considerably in Argentina, starting in the 1940s. It consists of glider flight (aircraft without an engine). The competitions consist of speed circuits; In a national championship, the distances of the circuits usually oscillate between 200km and 500km every day, with typical average speeds of between 90km/h and 100km/h. Rodolfo Hossinger became champion in 1960 at the World Gliding Championship in Cologne, Germany and in 2012 the same title was obtained by Sebastián Riera and Santiago Berca in Argentina. This sport is regulated in the country by the Argentine Sailing Federation (FAVAV).
Waterski
Although this sport is not as popular in Argentina as it is in other countries around the world, Javier Julio won the 2009 water ski/water ski world championship, in the overall category, in Calgary, Canada.
Yachting
Yachting is a widely spread sport in Argentina with several world-class representatives. In Argentine Olympic history, yachting won ten medals (one gold, four silver and five bronze), being the second sport, only behind boxing, that contributed the most medals between 1924 and 2016. The level of international competitiveness of Argentine yachting has increased in recent years, obtaining medals in the last six Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), highlighting its performance in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where it contributed three of the four medals obtained by the Argentine delegation. Among the sailors, Carlos Espínola, winner of four Olympic medals in four consecutive Olympic Games, and Santiago Lange, four-time world champion, winner of three medals and first Olympic champion in this sport, an Olympic title achieved together with Cecilia Carranza Saroli, the first and only stand out. Argentine Olympic champion in this discipline.
The following are the Olympic medals obtained by Argentine yachting:
- Silver: London 1948: Class 6 meters: Enrique Conrado Sieburger, Emilio Homps, Julio Christian Sieburger, Enrique Adolfo Sieburger, Rodolfo Rivademar, Rufino Rodríguez de la Torre.
- Silver: Rome 1960: Dragon Class: Jorge Salas Chávez, Héctor Calegaris, Jorge Alberto del Río Salas.
- Silver: Atlanta 1996: Mistral Class: Carlos Espínola.
- Sydney 2000:
- Silver: Mistral Class: Carlos Espínola.
- Bronze: Class 470: Javier Conte, Juan de la Fuente.
- Bronze: Class Europe: Serena Amato.
- Bronze: Athens 2004: Tornado Class: Carlos Espínola, Santiago Lange.
- Bronze: Beijing 2008: Tornado Class: Carlos Espínola, Santiago Lange.
- Bronze: London 2012: Class 470: Juan de la Fuente, Lucas Calabrese.
- Gold: Rio de Janeiro 2016: Nacra Class 17: Santiago Lange, Cecilia Carranza Saroli.
Among the important regattas organized by Argentine clubs, there is the Buenos Aires - Mar del Plata Ocean Regatta, which has been running since 1932, and the Buenos Aires - Río de Janeiro, which has been held since 1947. Among the clubs, the Yacht Club Argentino stands out, founded in 1883.
The Argentinian Vito Dumas is the most important solo sailor of all time, recognized for his exploits at sea.
The national authority in charge of regulating and organizing the sport is the Argentine Yachting Federation.
Regional hobbies and recent sports
Various factors such as climate, geography, or socio-cultural inclinations, etc. mean that certain sports have a large number of followers in specific areas of the country.
In coastal cities and those located on the banks of large rivers and lakes, rowing, yachting, fishing, canoeing, water skiing, rafting, etc. are very popular. In the southwestern Andean provinces, where snowfall is very common in winter, skiing, snowboarding, etc. are practiced. In the mountainous western and northwestern provinces there are numerous mountaineering enthusiasts, with numerous well-organized clubs. In the mountainous areas there is a passion for rallying. In the Province of Mendoza, the Cuyano rodeo is increasingly practiced, due to its proximity to Chile.
Skate has many cultivators in the region of Cuyo and Mar del Plata. The province of San Juan stands out for the excellence of roller hockey. Softball is very popular in Entre Ríos, while baseball is very popular in Salta. In the city of Hurlingham, located in the Buenos Aires suburbs, Gaelic football is practiced, having won the world championship in 2015.
In Balcarce, longcasting (throwing weights with a rod and reel) is practiced a lot. In 2016, the Argentine national team became world champion of longcasting majors in the XIX edition of the world longcasting championship, held in Portugal.
In 2010 the Argentine Footgolf Association was founded to promote the practice of footgolf, a sport born in 2009 in the Netherlands, a hybrid between golf and soccer. In 2016, Argentina hosted the second World Senior Footgolf Championship, which was held in Pilar, where Cristían Otero became world champion in the singles category. Otero also won other prestigious tournaments in the world such as the Pro Am in the United States, and in Europe, especially in Italy.
On the Argentine Atlantic coast, surfing is practiced, especially on the Buenos Aires coast and in cities like Mar del Plata. In the same area and other beach areas, such as the coasts of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, beach volleyball and beach soccer are practiced.
Kick boxing and Muay Thai is practiced in some areas of the country and also has some world titles. One of the best exponents in these types of sports is Diego Mannino, who was a 6-time kick boxing world champion.
Snow polo, another sport parallel to traditional polo, in 2017 Argentina was able to win the Snow Polo World Cup, known as the FIP Snow Polo World Cup, beating Hong Kong in the final. As with the traditional polo world championships, snow polo is not a maximum handicap either. This limitation is due to the fact that this sport intends to hold more even and competitive tournaments. Therefore, Argentine players with a handicap of 40 or more cannot play any of the types of polo, be it traditional polo or snow polo, thus playing tournaments with alternative major teams.
Despite the fact that bowling is a sport that declined its massive practice in the past and currently there are few players in this sport in the country, it is worth noting the only Argentine to be champion, Jorge Alberto Guzmán from Mendoza, who won the Championship Absolute professional Bowling World Cup in 1983, in Canada.
Argentina at the Olympic Games
Argentina was one of the twelve countries —the only Ibero-American— that founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, being represented on the first Executive Council by José Benjamín Zubiaur, who served in that position until 1907.
The first Olympic presence of an Argentine athlete occurred in the second Olympic Games in Paris in 1900 through the solitary participation of the fencer Francisco Camet. Two other isolated Argentine athletes competed in London 1908 and Antwerp 1920, but it was not until the 1924 Paris Olympic Games that Argentina formed an organized Olympic delegation, appearing since then in all the games, with the exception of those held in Moscow 1980, adhering to the political boycott carried out by some countries. The first awarded position was obtained in 1900 and the first medal in 1924, adding since then 77 medals (21 gold), including those obtained in the last Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. The country is represented by the Argentine Olympic Committee.
Eighteen sports disciplines have contributed medals to the Argentine medal table in the period 1924-2020. The one that has contributed the most is boxing, which with 24 is responsible for 36% of the total. However, boxing fell a lot from 1968, contributing only one of the 31 medals obtained since then. In second place, they have been the sailing sports with 10 medals, the ones that have obtained the most. It is followed by the following disciplines with more than one medal: field hockey (6), athletics (5), tennis (5), soccer (4), rowing (4), swimming (3), basketball (2), weightlifting (2), judo (2), polo (2) and volleyball (2). With a single medal they have contributed cycling, horse riding, fencing, rugby 7, taekwondo and shooting.
August 28, 2004 has been considered the most important day in Argentine sports, due to the Olympic achievements achieved that day at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games: two gold medals in soccer and basketball -the two most popular sports in the world- and a bronze medal in yachting.
Argentina at the Paralympic Games
Argentina has participated in all the Summer Paralympic Games, since its first edition in Rome 1960. It was the only Spanish-speaking country and the only Latin American country present in the first two editions. Regarding the Paralympic Winter Games, its first participation was in Vancouver 2010, appearing since then in all editions. The country is represented by the Argentine Paralympic Committee.
The Argentine delegations obtained a total of 156 medals in the games, of which 31 are gold, 61 silver and 64 bronze. All were won in summer editions. Argentina is ranked 30th in the historical medal table of the Paralympic Games, its best performance being the second place obtained in the women's athletics medal table at the 1968 Tel Aviv Games.
Among the individual performances, Silvia Cochetti stands out, the highest medalist in Argentine history, with 13 medals in two games, 5 of them gold, and Jorge Diz with eleven medals, although none of them gold. Susana Olarte also stands out with 9 medals (4 golds), Dina Galíndez with 6 medals (2 golds), Juan Sznitowski with 5 medals (2 golds), Marcela Rizzotto with 4 medals (2 golds), Eugenia García with 7 medals (1 gold) and Betiana Basualdo with 6 medals (1 gold).
Argentina at the Pan American Games
Argentina is in fifth place in the historical medal table of the Pan American Games with 327 golds, 365 silvers and 468 bronzes. It took first place in the inaugural edition in 1951, second place in 1955 and 1959, and fourth place in 1963, 1967, 1979, and 1995.
Argentina has hosted two editions of the Pan American Games: Buenos Aires 1951 and Mar del Plata 1995. It also hosted the 1990 winter Pan American Games held in Las Leñas, Mendoza Province.
National teams
| Sport | Selection | Nickname | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | Male | Golden Generation, The soul | |
| Female | The Giants | ||
| Balonmano | Male | The Gladiators | |
| Female | The Garra | ||
| Baseball | Male | The Gauchos | |
| Boxing | Male | The Condors | |
| Críquet | Female | The Flamingos | |
| Football | Male | The Albiceleste | |
| Male, for the blind | The Bats | ||
| Sub-23 | The Albiceleste | ||
| Sub-22 | The Albiceleste | ||
| Sub-20 | The Albiceleste | ||
| Sub-17 | The Albiceleste | ||
| Sub-15 | The Albiceleste | ||
| Female | The Albiceleste | ||
| Football Beach | The Albiceleste | ||
| Futsal (AMF) | The Albiceleste | ||
| Futsal (FIFA) | The Albiceleste | ||
| Hockey on lawn | Female | Las Leones | |
| Female sub-21 | The Leoncitas | ||
| Male | The Lions | ||
| Hockey on skates | Female | Eagles | |
| Padel | Male | - | |
| Female | - | ||
| Polo | Male | - | |
| Rugby | Masculina rugby union | The Pumas | |
| Masculina rugby seven | Pumas 7's | ||
| Feminine rugby seven | The Pumas | ||
| Male, second team | Argentina XV | ||
| Male sub 20 | The Pumitas | ||
| Softball | Male | - | |
| Ten | Male | The Legion | |
| Volleyball | Male | - | |
| Female | The Panthers |
Sports from Argentina
The following sports originated in Argentina:
- Cestoball
- Duck
- Riding gaucha
- Palette ball
- You've got criollo.
- Tejo de playa
- Vincha Toreo
- Dress (Criolla Farm)
Sports media
In September 1923, the boxing match known as the "fight of the century" between Luis Ángel Firpo and Jack Dempsey at the Polo Grounds in New York was broadcast in Argentina by radio. In October of the following year, soccer was broadcast for the first time, with a match between the teams of Argentina and Uruguay. Among the most prominent football radio presenters are Borocotó, Fioravanti, José María Muñoz and Víctor Hugo Morales.
Historically, the government channel Canal 7 and various state radio stations (including Radio Belgrano) were in charge of broadcasting sports on television and radio throughout the country for free. However, with the introduction of cable television and channels such as TyC Sports, Cable Sport, América Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports, PSN, DirecTV Sports and more recently DeporTV, the transmission of sports was decentralized in order to reach more channels., in addition to the private channels for which a price must be paid for their availability.
Among the print media, the magazine El Gráfico stood out, published between 1919 and 2018, the year in which it was closed by the company that owns Torneos y Competencias (Grupo Clarín), both in its printed version as in its online version.
Alternative sport in Argentina
The idea of alternative sports and/or alternative games arose in 1997 at the hands of CODASPORTS (Comisión de Juegos y Deportes Alternativos).
This term was used for extreme sports, mainly for activities in which there were no valid alternatives to enjoy them if someone did not have the original resources. The variant of starting to use already existing elements for other activities began to have a great boom from 1998, the year CODA was born.
CODASPORTS was born on December 21, 1997 in the city of Buenos Aires, founded by Ricardo Acuña, an athlete from Chubut, a precursor of this modality. In 1998 the expansion, research, development and diffusion of alternative activities began.
In 1999 the IASO Worldwide (International Alternative Sports Organization) was formed, with entities related to CODA in other countries. In this way, Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, Germany and Puerto Rico lay the foundations of IASO, home to 30 alternative sports organizations.
Currently, CODASPORTS continues to host around 350 alternative sports and games. At the same time, there are sports that have their own national governing bodies such as lacrosse, kabaddi, Australian football, Indiana, floorball and korfball.
In 2011 CADALT (Argentine Council of Alternative Sports) was born, an entity that includes the most popular Games and Alternative Sports of CODASPORTS, as well as others that are governed by other associations, federations, confederations and clubs.