denied economic support from the local government. Rieckehoff did however, manage to send one athlete to represent Puerto Rico in boxing, Alberto Mercado, who became the only American citizen to participate in the 1980 Olympics. In 1982, the Government of Puerto Rico, headed by then governor Carlos Romero Barceló, withheld economic support from the athletic delegation headed to Cuba, where the Central American and Caribbean Games were going to be held. The Puerto Rican Olympic Committee, under the leadership of Rieckehoff, had to appeal directly to the people for donations and were able to send the delegation. The Puerto Rican Olympic Committee is also the organization in charge of selecting the Puerto Rican athletes which represent the island in the Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games. The Puerto Rican national baseball team won a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but that medal is not counted among Puerto Rico's Olympic medals totals because baseball was only an exhibition sport during those games. The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the "XV Olympic Winter Games", was celebrated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada between February 13 and 28. It was the first Winter Olympics ever held in Canada. It was also the first time that a Puerto Rican team was sent to represent the island in an Olympic ski competition. No Puerto Rican had ever skied in the Olympics. The six-person Puerto Rican ski team was made up of native Puerto Ricans. They were Félix Flechas, Walter Sandza, Kevin Wilson, his sister Mary Pat Wilson and Jason Edelmann. Mary Pat Wilson is Puerto Rico's first and only female Olympic skier. Even though the team did not do well in the competition, they were highly respected by their competitors. Since then. Puerto Rico has participated in all but three of the Winter Olympic Games, missing those of 2006, 2010, and 2014. Kristina Brandi represented Puerto Rico in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. She became the first tennis player representing Puerto Rico to win a singles match in an Olympic when she beat Jelena Kostanić from Croatia (7–5 and 6–1). She lost in the second round to Russian Anastasia Myskina. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Monica Puig made Olympic history when she became the first person to win an Olympic gold medal for Puerto Rico by defeating Germany's Angelique