Some 3,500 men and women between the ages of 14 and 22 will compete in 39 disciplines of a contest that will have alternate venues.
An authentic selection of new sports figures from 41 countries will launch the first edition of the Junior Pan American Games on November 25 in the Colombian city of Cali.
Some 3,500 men and women between the ages of 14 and 22 will compete in 39 disciplines of a contest that will have alternate venues in the neighboring cities of Buga, Yumbo, Calima-Darien, Jamundí and Palmira, as well as in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla.
Chosen on March 27, 2019 to organize the first version of the Junior Pan American Games, Cali surpassed the candidacies of Monterrey (Mexico) and Santa Ana (El Salvador).
Since then, this metropolis of 2.5 million inhabitants had not only run against the clock to finish the scenarios, but also endured five months of uncertainty due to the postponement of the event due to the covid-19 pandemic, and then suffered the excesses generated by the social protests of May this year.
Panam Sports, the Pan-American sports organization chaired by the Chilean Neven Ilic, has defined the nascent contest, which will end on December 5, as “a before and after” for the new generations.
“We are very expectant, especially because I think it can be a before and an after in the development of the new generations of sport in America “, Ilic said in an interview with Efe.
The executive celebrated the enthusiasm of those responsible for the 41 national Olympic committees, who have responded by moving more numerous delegations to Colombia than originally planned.
“The attendance that we are having is historical. All countries have larger delegations than we expected ”, he added.
He added that another valuable incentive derives from the decision to regulate that the gold medalists in Cali and its sub-sites have a guaranteed classification in the Pan American Games that Santiago de Chile will organize in 2023.
The ‘before and after’ envisioned by Ilic as a hotbed of talents called to relieve established figures also hopes that it will have an effect on a change in focus of the proportion of official resources to support athletes in America.
“In general, in our countries it is difficult to find financing for the new generations. Budgets are finite and are spent on the adult generations that are representing the countries, ”he explained.
“There are few (countries) that have an economic reserve for the new generations. With a large event, governments will have special attention ”, added the president of Panam Sports.
He specified that the organization of these Games must also mark the beginning of a rational use of resources, without excessive or pharaonic investments.
“These are Games that are being achieved with a super reasonable budget and that should also be an incentive for all the cities that come after Cali,” he said.
Regarding the sanitary measures that will be observed, he announced that “all accredited persons aged 18 or over must have their two vaccinations.”
He warned that “the unvaccinated cannot be accredited. and there are no exceptions of any kind ”.
Prevention and care measures will prevent athletes from interacting with the public. “They should stay in their hotels, without going out to the city for dinners, parties or supermarkets,” he said.
Range of figures to consider
The Junior Pan American Games will bring together rising figures who, despite their young age, have already had experiences in regional and world championships, and even the recent Tokyo Olympics.
Ecuador bets on Lucia ‘Tigra’ Yépez, 20, fighter who reached eighth place in Tokyo and brand new world champion in Belgrade.
Panama relies on the strokes of swimmer Emily Santos and weightlifter Ronnier Martínez, its flag bearers.
Among the Dominicans, Alexander Ogando, from the mixed 4×400 team that won the silver medal in Tokyo, gains strength.
Uruguay sent to Colombia, among other options to reach the podium, the rower Felipe Klüver, who reached the Olympic final in Tokyo.
Guatemala’s big bet is Erick Gordillo, the second best swimmer in the country, while swimmer Celina Márquez and archer Paola Corado feature in the Salvadorans’ bets.
The main figure of the Costa Rican delegation, Noelia Vargas, was titled at the Tokyo Olympics as the 21st marcher in the world, the fifth in America and the best in Central America and the Caribbean.
The host country, which has a delegation of 370 athletes, “attaches great importance to these Games because they are the renewal ones,” the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solano Hurtado, told EFE. (D)
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