Valledupar overcomes ‘difficulties’ and offers Bolivarian Games ‘up to par’ | Other Sports | Sports

The XIX Bolivarian Gameswhich will be inaugurated this Friday in Valledupar, capital of the Colombian department of Cesar, they will be up to the task of the previous editions, according to its organizers, Despite setbacks and difficulties to fit some scenarios.

“You can give a part of tranquility. There are very few things that we have to adapt. Let’s make some good Games. We will be up to all the Games”, he assured Eph the director of the contest, Ana Edurne Camacho.

He stressed the importance of power start the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle for 11 American countries and 3,264 athletes after “five years with a pandemic in between and many obstacles, but everything suffered is highly valued.”

Despite all the alerts for delays in the works of sports venues, The curtain could be raised with fencing competitions and the Villa Bolivariana was officially opened for the athletes with the raising of the flags and a ceremony of cultural symbols of the region, accordion, vallenato music and reflections of the Arhuaco indigenous community.

“As in every beginning, one begins to see some details that are coming out. New construction obviously presents last-minute fixes, but I think the important thing is to be able to solve it,” Camacho said.

Thanks to advances in the last month, they have “very complete” scenarios and found a way to overcome the greatest difficulties.

Refering to bmx trackwhich will possibly have in action the Colombian Mariana Pajón, gold in London 2012 and Rio 2016, and runner-up in Tokyo 2020, the director acknowledged that they thought she would not be ready, but “Today it is valued as an excellent track.”

They also already have the pool for swimming testswho hopes to have “ready” on Saturday for the athletes to deliver “a positive concept.”

In contrast, the coliseum for gymnastics has had “many setbacks and is not one hundred percent”, so they will use a different stage for the competitions. The same will happen with basketball.

Tranquility of the Odebo

The president of the Bolivarian Sports Organization (Odebo), Colombian Baltazar Medina, told Eph that “there have been few difficulties” that they have faced and that they had to make a joint effort to carry out the Games.

“I’m with a feeling of calm after many moments of tension. Many things seemed that they were not going to be on time, but finally we did it”, expressed the sports director.

The Valledupar 2022 Games were originally supposed to take place in 2021 in the region of the Valles del Tuy, in Venezuela, but in the end they were not carried out due to financial and organizational problems.

Refering to opening ceremony, which will be this Friday At the Armando Maestre stadium, the Government of Cesar announced that it will be a show that will mix the magic of sports, folklore and technology.

In addition to the traditional parade of the delegations, the lighting of the cauldron with the Bolivarian flame and a fireworks show, the opening event will include a surprise musical performancean allusion to endangered animals and a theatrical act with acrobatics and technology with more than 170 drones.

“We are expecting. I know it will be a very nice event. We are going to show the vallenato folklore, to have a colorful event”, Camacho pointed out about the inauguration, which will have 500 artists in seven stagings.

For the realization of the Bolivarians, the Government invested 110,000 million pesos (about 27.3 million dollars), of the total of 189,000 million pesos (about 47 million dollars) needed to develop the skills.

Total 3,264 athletes from 11 countries will attendof whom 1,547 are women and 1,717 men in 33 sports and 54 modalities, in which more than 400 medals will be awarded. (D)