By Linda Robertson
 Herald Sports Columnist

 SYDNEY, Australia -- Angel Perez never gave up hope.

 Despite the pleas of his wife to abandon the Olympics and come home, the
 kayaker marched in the opening ceremony. Despite rejections of his appeals for
 eligibility, he continued to practice with his teammates.

 Today, Perez's perseverance paid off when arbitrators reversed an earlier decision
 and granted him permission to compete in a U.S. uniform. Unless another
 unexpected twist emerges in his path to the starting line, Perez will be in the K-4
 boat when kayak racing begins Sept. 26.

 ``I have been waiting so long for this,'' Perez said. ``I wanted to be able to give
 back to the country that has given me everything. I will do my best to bring a
 medal back to the USA.''

 An Australian barrister and a Cuban-American lawyer from Miami played key
 roles in winning Perez's case. The application for political asylum Perez filed two
 days after his arrival in the U.S. was a key piece of evidence.

 ``It would have been a supreme injustice if Angel hadn't been able to represent his
 country,'' said U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Norm Blake.

 Perez's wife, Maria, said she is re-making the plane reservations for herself and
 their 3-year-old son Andres that she had canceled months ago.

 ``Angel called me at 4:30 a.m. and screamed, `We won!' '' she said, adding that
 he had packed his suitcase before going to the hearing. ``I jumped out of bed and
 started screaming. I think I woke up half of Miami.''

 Perez, 29, a 1992 Olympian for Cuba who defected to Miami in 1993, was locked
 out the Olympics by Olympic Charter Rule 46, which requires an athlete to wait
 three years after switching nationalities before he can compete for his new
 country. Perez did not become a U.S. citizen until 1999.

 The rule, which is intended to prevent country-hopping by Olympians, could have
 been waived if Cuba had agreed to let Perez paddle for the U.S. But the Cuban
 government labeled Perez a traitor and refused to let him and athletes from Spain,
 Mexico and Canada compete for their adopted countries. Cuba's sports teams
 have been depleted by defections in recent years, and the president of Cuba's
 Olympic Committee said he could not set a precedent that would only encourage
 more defections.

 Cuba rebuffed repeated entreaties by U.S. Olympic Committee leaders to release
 Perez. The International Olympic Committee gave no relief, either, saying that
 bending the rule for Perez would only create a flood of petitions from athletes all
 over the world. In a last-minute appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
 last week, Perez was again denied.

 But U.S. Olympic Committee general counsel Mark Muedeking had one last legal
 maneuver up his sleeve. Instead of listing the USOC as the claimant, an appeal to
 the CAS was filed with Perez as the claimant. His case was prepared by Sydney
 solicitor Paul Gavazzi and presented by Sydney barrister Mark Williams.

 ``We tried to stay away so it wouldn't look like we were trying to take two bites
 from the same apple,'' Muedeking said.

 Perez testified for about 10 minutes.

 ``They finally agreed with our argument that he acquired his new nationality as
 early as his asylum application in 1993,'' Muedeking said.

 Perez's argument was buttressed by a letter from Avelino Gonzalez, a lawyer
 from Miami's Holland & Knight firm who was formerly a professor at the University
 of Havana law school. Gonzalez said Perez lost his Cuban nationality and
 became stateless when he defected because he could not return to Cuba without
 the threat of imprisonment.

 Perez pointed out that he missed the 1996 Games because he did not have a
 U.S. passport.

 ``He's been on the bench for eight years,'' Muedeking said. ``It's not fair that he
 would have to sit out another four years.''

 Williams also submitted a letter from Edward Gnehm, the U.S. ambassador to
 Australia, who said Perez should be treated as a U.S. national.

 The same three arbitrators who ruled against Perez -- Robert Ellicott of Australia,
 Jan Paulsson of France and Dirk-Reiner Martens of Germany -- ruled in his favor.
 They will issue their written ruling Tuesday.

 ``I can't reach into their minds and figure out why they changed them,'' Muedeking
 said. ``We made a better case. Keep knocking on the door and somebody will
 answer. I'm calling it the `Miracle on 34th Street.'''

 Perez had called his wife during the lunch break of the hearing and sounded
 pessimistic.

 After the hearing, before the arbitrators issued their ruling, he went back to the
 team's lodging and his teammates brought him dinner.

 ``But instead of waiting around, he immediately went out to train,'' Maria said.
 ``That proves he still had hope. No matter what happens from now on, justice was
 served.''