Cubans warned to stay loyal

Javier Sotomayor proudly shows off the Cuban flag

Cuba's foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque has pleaded with the nation's athletes not to desert the communist country during this summer's Olympic Games.

Cuba fear that sports agents will tempt some of their 241 competing stars to defect in return for lucrative contracts away from their homeland.

Baseball superstar Omar Linares says he has already turned down an offer of over £5m to play Major League baseball this year.

"Personal glory is fleeting," insisted Perez Roque during a ceremony to turn over the Cuban flag to the athletes who will represent their country in 21 events in Sydney.

"We do not come here to ask you to be champions, we ask you to carry yourselves with honour and dignity," added Perez Roque at the event, attended by President Fidel Castro.

Felix Savon boasts two Olympic golds

Linares was joined by fellow medal hopefuls Felix Savon, twice Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, and high jumper Javier Sotomayor, who was thrilled to learn that his two year drug suspension had been halved, clearing the way for him to compete at Sydney.

"We Cuban athletes have no price," said Sotomayor.

"We don't give in, nor do we sell ourselves, nor do we exchange the affectionate applause of millions for millions of dollars of contempt."

Cuba regards any sportsman who quits "revolutionary sport" for professional sport to be guilty of treason.

Baseball star Rolando Arrojo defected during the Atlanta Games in 1996 to pitch for the Boston Red Sox and was branded a traitor by Castro.

Sotomayor is delighted to have returned from the sidelines

Long-serving boxing coach Mariano Leyva also sought political asylum in Atlanta and, as recently as last week, four members of the Cuban indoor football team stayed behind in Costa Rica after a regional sports competition.

Andy Morales, another baseball player, also won US residency recently after emigrating on an illegal boat trip.

Morales never attempted to defect during countless sporting trips abroad, yet made two illegal boat journeys before securing a permanent stay in the US.