(15 Jul 2013) SHOTLIST
AP TELEVISION
11 July
1. Former track and field athlete, Javier Sotomayor, running past high-jump by entrance to his sports bar and restaurant
2. Pan from "2.45" logo of business to Sotomayor talking to photographer
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Javier Sotomayor, Former track and field athlete and entrepreneur:
"The time one has to devote to this business is a huge sacrifice. It's totally different from sports. Sport requires a totally different type of sacrifice."
4. Wide of patio restaurant
5. Customers looking at menu
6. Sotomayor talking to customers
12 July
7. Wide exterior of car repair shop
8. Cars in repair shop
9. Mechanics working on car engine
10. Close-up of mechanic fixing car engine
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Morejon, Trombonist for "Los Van Van" and entrepreneur:
"My dream was to build a garage, a repair shop. I had the possibility of meeting some good mechanics, so I put up the tools and the space, and they brought their know-how. The system we've set up here is of our own design. It's like a cooperative. In other words, at the end of the week we gather all the money together and split it equally. So far, we're chugging along."
13 July
12. Wide interior of "The Three Medals" restaurant owned by former Cuban Olympic volleyball player Mireya Luis and her husband
13. Tilt down of photos on restaurant wall of Luis and former Cuban President Fidel Castro
14. Pan of replicas of Olympic gold medals won by Luis
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mireya Luis, Olympic volleyball gold medallist and entrepreneur:
"Honestly, this is much more difficult than playing volleyball, as well as captaining a team, even though I try to make it into a team effort here. I like it, it's a beautiful thing and very novel. It not only gives me the opportunity to have something else, but also to share something with people."
16. Wide of Luis and employee organising restaurant dining room
STORYLINE
Armed with money and name recognition, Cuban athletes and artists, who have long enjoyed a far more luxurious lifestyle than their compatriots on the Communist-run island, are embracing the new world of private enterprise.
At least a dozen athletes and artists have started private businesses since President Raul Castro began opening Cuba's economy to limited capitalism in 2010, with others quietly investing in others' establishments.
Many of the spots have opened in recent months.
Cuban track and field legend Javier Sotomayor has launched a sports bar named for the height of his world record high jump.
At Sports-Bar "2.45", patrons sip icy-cold Cuban beer and eat pizzas while perusing memorabilia from Sotomayor's career, such as a white athletic shoe he used in competition and several of his awards and medals.
The bar is named after the height in metres (equivalent to 8 feet one-half inches) of Sotomayor's world record-breaking high jump, set in 1993.
The record stands 20 years later, but the 45-year-old Sotomayor has moved on from his past as one of the Communist world's great athletes, and now considers himself a businessman.
He opened the bar in the front garden of his home, with his ex-wife as a co-investor, and it is often filled with young Cubans and tourists.
"The time one has to devote to this business is a huge sacrifice. It's totally different from sports," said Sotomayor.
At the Van Van Garage, gleaming Fiats, Mercedes and Peugeots overflow into the street outside, and uniformed mechanics use a desktop computer to show clients which parts need repair.
Morejon, a member of Cuba's most famous contemporary salsa group Los Van Van, doesn't need the money.
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