SANTO DOMINGO, (Reuters) - World champion Felix Sanchez, who represents the Dominican Republic but has never run there before, brought the Pan-American Games hosts their first gold on Wednesday when he won the 400 metres hurdles.
Santo Domingo's Olympic stadium was packed to its 30 000 capacity to see the 26-year-old who was raised in the United States and became a national hero in the Dominican Republic when he won the world championship at Edmonton two years ago.
The jubilation deflected attention from the long jump where Olympic and world champion Ivan Pedroso of Cuba warmed up for this month's world championships in Paris by winning his third successive Pan-American title.
All eyes, however, were on Sanchez, who was born in New York of Dominican parents, and hundreds of people were locked outside of the stadium an hour before he was due to run.
Several dozen forced their way past soldiers on the gate and invaded the media interview area as security failed to cope with the situation.
Sanchez was quick off the mark, took the lead after the sixth hurdle and held off a challenge from Eric Thomas of the United States to win with a Games record time of 48.19.
He was presented his gold medal by Dominican Republic president Hipolito Mejia, who was jeered when his name was announced.
``I went off too quickly and after the first six hurdles I was very tired and I had to maintain my technique to survive the last part,'' he told reporters, admitting that he got carried away in the atmosphere.
``Now my target is to defend my world championship and win an Olympics gold for my country in Athens.''
VERY NERVOUS
``The public had been waiting for this race for the whole year and that made me very nervous. I was under a lot of pressure. If I hadn't won this race, I would have had to wait until Brazil in 2007.''
By the time Pedroso won the long jump, most of the crowd had already left the arena.
The Cuban, who will be aiming to win a fifth consecutive world championship in Paris, won with a jump of 8.23 metres, overtaking compatriot Luis Meliz who produced 8.20 with his second attempt but could not improve.
Victor Castillo of Venezuela took the bronze medal with 7.96.
Sanchez's victory made up for disappointment for the hosts elsewhere.
The Dominicans missed out on gold in the men's basketball after being beaten comfortably, 89-62 by Brazil and their tragi-comic hockey team suffered yet another hammering as they went down 23-0 to the United States.
Even so, it was the Dominican team's best result of the tournament following a 30-0 mauling by Argentina and a 25-0 drubbing by Chile.
Shortly before the match, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) lent some moral support as they backed the decision to include the hapless hosts in the tournament, which is being used as a qualifier for next year's Olympic Games.
``Although the defeats suffered by the host nation are considered unfortunate, the FIH and PAHF (Pan-American Hockey Federation) consider the situation to be the best possible balance of excellence and development, necessary for the global promotion of hockey,'' the FIH said in a statement.
``Both the FIH and PAHF wish the Dominican Republic well in their remaining matches.''