Sports

Sports are incredibly important to the social life and national character of Cuba, and Cubans enjoy sports. Popular sports played in the nation include boxing, baseball, football, volleyball, and many others. Cubans prefer baseball over any other sport by a wide margin.

The nation's government encourages sports by choosing young, gifted athletes to enroll in special boarding schools where they are permitted to pursue a variety of sports in addition to their regular academics. One of the reasons the nation has continuously performed well in international competitions like the Olympics is due to its training regimen. The nation won more medals at the Olympic Games in 1992 than any other nation did, per capita. The best athletes in the nation are revered as heroes in Cuba.