From: beascoea@colossus.cs.rpi.edu (Alex Beascoechea)
Subject: Re: Controversy about Miguel Indurain
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 06:18:23 GMT

In article <1e9vl6INN61i@morrow.stanford.edu> puerta@CAMIS.Stanford.EDU (Angel Puerta) writes:
>
>
>On the August 3rd, 1992 issue of Sports Illustrated, there was an article
>about the recently concluded Tour de France titled:
>"Basking in the Glory" by Alexander Wolff.
>The title of the article played the theme, emphasized in the text itself, that
>since Miguel Indurain is Basque, he was "basking in the glory".
>
>I wrote a letter to the editor of Sports Illustrated as well as to the author
>stating that there is a part of the world called Navarra (my mother's
>homeland, btw) and that Indurain was from that region.
>
>I received the answer below. I plan to answer that letter but I would like
>to know if some other people have comments that they would like to make so that
>I could incorporate them into my letter.
>
>===============================================================================
>
>
>
>November 13, 1992
>
>Dr. Angel R. Puerta
>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>Dear Dr. Puerta
>
>Your letter to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED regarding the August 3
>article on the Tour de France has come to me for reply.
>
>We were interested in your comments on Miguel Indurain,
>particularly about whether or not he should be called Basque.
>As you already know, Indurain is from the village of Villaba
>in the Navarre province, which is not Basque. Technically,
>this would seem to confirm your thoughts. However, Villaba is
>located just outside Pomplona (sic), which is Basque, and the
>region is considered to be Basque and the people there think
>of themselves as Basque. When Indurain returned home to
>Villaba after winning the Tour de France, the walls
>of his hometown were painted with a Basque welcome, and when
>Indurain addressed the crowd, he did so first in Basque
>and then in Spanish. A spanish journalist probably summed
>it up best when he said, "to most Spaniards, he is a Basque;
>to the Basques, he is a Spaniard except that he becomes a
>Basque when he wins the Tour de France."
>
>Hopefully, we have explained our understanding of this matter.
>Although your remarks were not published in the letters columm,
>your comments were circulated among the editors who review
>mail about the magazine and its contents.
>
>Thank you for the interest that prompted you to write.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>David Fischer
>SI Letters
>==============================================================================
>
>-- 
>Angel Puerta
>puerta@camis.stanford.edu

A mi lo que me parece es que el propio Indurain a propiciado esta situacion.
Cuando no era tan conocido en el resto de Espagna Indurain era ya muy 
popular en el Pais Vasco, donde como se sabe esta el ciclismo amateur mas fuerte
y la mayor aficion al ciclismo de espagna con mucha diferencia.

Cuando Indurain estaba en el Reynolds siempre se le conocio como Mikel
Indurain (y si no repasa los videos de TVE). Fue' cuando el equipo se 
convirtio en Banesto cuando parece que (posiblemente por decision propia,
Money Talks) decidio promover lo de Miguel.

Otros periodicos, como el New York Times, tambien dicen que Indurain es Vasco
, y por lo general su informacion se basa bastante en las impresiones que 
sus periodistas recojen durante la carrera, mas que en otras cosas. Quiza es que
Induran cuando no hace declaraciones para TVE o la SER se manifiesta de
distinta manera a como algunos creen.

En cualquier caso, esta claro que no hay incompatibilidad entre ser Vasco y
Navarro y solo algunos exaltados Die Hard son tan osados como para perseguir
este tipo de polemica barata en el extranjero.
-- 
----------------- Alex Beascoechea -----------------
alex@ecse.rpi.edu beascoea@cs.rpi.edu beasca@rpi.e
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