Dayron Robles was too far ahead of his rivals to get into any trouble this time, winning his second straight Pan American Games gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles Friday. The Cuban world-record holder, who set a Pan American Games record by winning in 13.10 seconds, also finished first in the race at the world championships in August but was stripped of his title for obstructing Chinese runner Liu Xiang. There was no dispute this time. “It wasn't that hard,” said Robles, who also won the gold four years ago in Rio de Janeiro. The previous Pan American Games record of 13.17 was set by Anier Garcia of Cuba in 1999 in Winnipeg. Robles holds the world record of 12.87, which he ran a couple of months before winning the Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. Robles started off another strong day for Cuba on the track. A day after winning five golds, Cuban athletes added seven more to move into second place in the medals table behind the United States. The Americans lead with 86 gold and 220 overall, while Cuba has 52 gold and 124 overall. Brazil dropped into third place with 45 gold and 128 overall. Besides Robles, Yarelis Barrios won the women's discus, Andy Gonzalez won the men's 800, Lazaro Borges won the men's pole vault, Guillermo Martinez won the men's javelin and both 1,600 relay teams claimed gold. The Cubans also won four of the six boxing gold medals and two more in judo. The other two came in canoeing. The United States claimed two big qualifying spots for the London Olympics in women's field hockey and women's water polo. Both teams won gold Friday, unexpectedly in field hockey and tougher than planned in water polo. Overall, the Americans stayed at the top of the medals table by winning seven golds on Day 14 of the games to bring their total to 86 gold and 220 overall. Cuba, however, moved into second place ahead of Brazil with 42 golds by winning 15 of them Friday. The American field hockey team scored its biggest upset ever, defeating world champion Argentina 4-2. In women's water polo, the Americans rallied from a 5-2 halftime deficit to send the game into overtime at 8-8. No one scored in the extra two periods, but the Americans held on to win a marathon shootout 19-18. Sara Hall added a gold by winning the women's steeplechase, while Carrie Johnson won the women's K1 500-meter kayak event, the men's foil team and women's sabre team added two more in fencing and Paul Ruggeri III won the men's high bar in gymnastics. Jeronimo Amione scored in the 75th minute as Mexico defeated Argentina 1-0 to win the men's football gold. Also, Canadian wakeboard silver medalist Aaron Rathy became the first athlete to test positive for doping during competition at the games. Rathy tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine and his medal has been withdrawn, according to games officials.
