The official national sport of Argentina is pato, played
with a six-handle ball on horseback, but the most popular sport is association
football. The national football team has won 25 major international titles
including two FIFA World Cups, two Olympic gold medals and fourteen Copa
Américas. Over one thousand Argentine players play abroad, the majority of them
in European football leagues. Basketball is the second most popular sport. The
men's national basketball team won Olympic gold in the 2004 Olympics and the
bronze medal in 2008. Argentina is currently ranked first by the International
Basketball Federation. Argentina has an important rugby union football team,
"Los Pumas", with many of its players playing in Europe. Argentina
beat host nation France twice in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, placing them third
in the competition. The Pumas are currently eighth in the official world
rankings.[138] Other popular sports include field hockey, tennis, auto racing,
boxing, volleyball, polo and golf.
The Argentine National Anthem was adopted in 1813, written
by Vicente López y Planes with music by Blas Parera, although it was shortened
to only three paragraphs without the vivid attacks against Spain. The Cockade
of Argentina was first used during the May Revolution and was made official two
years later. The Hornero, which habitates in almost all the national territory
was made Argentina's national animal unanimously in 1927. The ceibo is its
national flower and tree, pato, its national sport, asado its national dish,
the Rhodochrosite its national stone, the Virgin of Lujan its patron saint and
wine its national liquor.
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