# South American Games

The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: Juegos Suramericanos; Portuguese: Jogos Sul-Americanos), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: Juegos Cruz del Sur) is a regional multi-sport event held between nations from South America, organized by the ODESUR (acronym for "Organización Deportiva Suramericana" – South American Sports Organization.
The first Games were held in 1978 in La Paz, Bolivia. They have since been held every four years, with the most recent edition in 2022 in Asuncion, Paraguay. The Games have had an equivalent to the Olympic Flame since their inception: the South American Flame, which is relayed from Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, to the host city.
For the XI edition in 2018 there were two bids: Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with the final hosting decision in favour of Cochabamba in 2011. Starting with the 2014 edition, the South American Para Games are held for South American Paralympic athletes. Just like the Olympic Games, the host city for the South American Games is also the host for Para-South American Games.
The detailed history of the South American Games together with an extensive list of medal winners was published in a book written (in Spanish) by Argentinian journalist Ernesto Rodríguez III with support of the Argentine Olympic Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Sports Secretary of Argentina.

## Participants

15 ODESUR members along to the code COI of each one
* Argentina (ARG)
* Aruba (ARU)
* Bolivia (BOL)
* Brazil (BRA)
* Chile (CHL)
* Colombia (COL)
* Curaçao (CUW)
* Ecuador (ECU)
* Guyana (GUY)
* Panama (PAN)
* Paraguay (PAR)
* Peru (PER)
* Suriname (SUR)
* Uruguay (URU)
* Venezuela (VEN)

## Games

| Year | Games | Host City | Host Country | Opened by | Dates | Athletes | Nations | Sports | Top medalling nation |
| 1978 | 1 | La Paz | Bolivia | Juan Pereda | 3 – 12 November | 480 | 8 | 16 | Argentina |
| 1982 | 2 | Rosario | Argentina | Reynaldo Bignone | 26 November – 5 December | 961 | 10 | 19 | Argentina |
| 1986 | 3 | Santiago | Chile | Augusto Pinochet | 28 November – 8 December | 969 | 10 | 17 | Argentina |
| 1990 | 4 | Lima | Peru | Alberto Fujimori | 1 – 10 December | 1,070 | 10 | 16 | Argentina |
| 1994 | 5 | Valencia | Venezuela | Rafael Caldera | 19 – 28 November | 1,599 | 14 | 19 | Argentina |
| 1998 | 6 | Cuenca | Ecuador | Gustavo Noboa | 21 – 31 October | 1,525 | 14 | 24 | Argentina |
| 2002 | 7 | Belém, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo | Brazil | Almir Gabriel, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and others (each city had its own opening ceremonies) | 1 – 11 August | 2,069 | 13 | 24 | Brazil |
| 2006 | 8 | Buenos Aires | Argentina | Daniel Scioli | 9 – 19 November | 2,938 | 15 | 28 | Argentina |
| 2010 | 9 | Medellín | Colombia | Álvaro Uribe | 19 – 30 March | 3,751 | 15 | 31 | Colombia |
| 2014 | 10 | Santiago | Chile | Sebastián Piñera | 7 – 18 March | 3,499 | 14 | 33 | Brazil |
| 2018 | 11 | Cochabamba | Bolivia | Evo Morales | 26 May – 8 June | 4,010 | 14 | 35 | Colombia |
| 2022 | 12 | Asunción | Paraguay | Diego Galeano Harrison | 1 – 15 October | 4,476 | 15 | 34 | Brazil |
| 2026 | 13 | Rosario, Santa Fe and Rafaela | Argentina | Javier Milei (expected) | 12 – 26 September | | | | |

## Para Games

| Year | Games | Host City | Host Country | Opened by | Dates | Athletes | Nations | Sports | Top medalling nation |
| 2014 | 1 | Santiago | Chile | Michelle Bachelet | 26 – 30 March | 600+ | 8 | 7 | Argentina |
| 2018 | – | Cochabamba | Bolivia | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 2026 | 2 | Valledupar | Colombia | Gustavo Petro | | 800+ | | | |

## Youth Games

| Year | Games | Host City | Host Country | Opened by | Dates | Athletes | Nations | Sports | Top medalling nation |
| 2013 | 1 | Lima | Peru | Ollanta Humala | 20 – 29 September | 1200 | 14 | 19 | Brazil |
| 2017 | 2 | Santiago | Chile | Michelle Bachelet | 29 September – 8 October | 1279 | 14 | 20 | Brazil |
| 2022 | 3 | Rosario | Argentina | Omar Perotti | 28 April – 8 May | 2500 | 15 | 26 | Brazil |

## Beach Games

| Year | Games | Host City | Host Country | Opened by | Dates | Athletes | Nations | Sports | Top medalling nation |
| 2009 | 1 | Punta del Este/Montevideo | Uruguay | | 3 – 13 December | | 12 | 9 | Brazil |
| 2011 | 2 | Manta | Ecuador | | 2 – 12 December | 675 | 13 | 10 | Brazil |
| 2014 | 3 | Vargas | Venezuela | | 14 – 24 May | | 12 | 10 | Venezuela |
| 2017 | – | Pimentel | Peru | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 2019 | 4 | Rosario | Argentina | Mauricio Macri | 14 – 23 March | | 14 | 13 | Argentina |
| 2023 | 5 | Santa Marta | Colombia | | 14 – 21 July | 800 | 15 | 14 | Colombia |

## Masters Games

| Year | Games | Host City | Host Country | Opened by | Dates | Athletes | Nations | Sports | Top medalling nation |
| 2021 | – | Santiago | Chile | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled | Cancelled |

## School Games

The South American School Games have been held since 1991. 27th was held in Santiago, Chile.

## Medals (1978–2022)

The total medal count for all the Games until 2022 is tabulated below. This table is sorted by the number of gold medals earned by each country. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next, and then the number of bronze medals.
South American Games medal count :
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Argentina | 940 | 826 | 802 | 2568 |
| 2 | Brazil | 873 | 700 | 637 | 2210 |
| 3 | Colombia | 582 | 501 | 498 | 1581 |
| 4 | Venezuela | 566 | 512 | 557 | 1635 |
| 5 | Chile | 392 | 487 | 597 | 1476 |
| 6 | Ecuador | 213 | 265 | 403 | 881 |
| 7 | Peru | 209 | 289 | 399 | 897 |
| 8 | Uruguay | 76 | 129 | 164 | 369 |
| 9 | Bolivia | 35 | 86 | 163 | 284 |
| 10 | Paraguay | 27 | 70 | 75 | 172 |
| 11 | Panama | 16 | 19 | 37 | 72 |
| 12 | Suriname | 9 | 3 | 12 | 24 |
| 13 | Netherlands Antilles | 7 | 7 | 17 | 31 |
| 14 | Aruba | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
| 15 | Guyana | 2 | 5 | 15 | 22 |
| 16 | Curaçao | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 3950 | 3907 | 4389 | 12246 |

## Sports

Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:
Aquatics –  Cycling –  Football –  Gymnastics –  Roller sports –  Volleyball
| Sport (discipline) | Sport (discipline) | Body | Body | 78 | 82 | 86 | 90 | 94 | 98 | 02 | 06 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 |
| Sport (discipline) | Sport (discipline) | World | South America | 78 | 82 | 86 | 90 | 94 | 98 | 02 | 06 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 |
| Diving | | AQUA | ASUA | X | X | | | | | | | X | X | X | X |
| Open water swimming | | AQUA | ASUA | | | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X |
| Swimming | | AQUA | ASUA | X | X | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Synchronized swimming | | AQUA | ASUA | | X | | | | | X | | X | X | X | X |
| Water polo | | AQUA | ASUA | | | | | | | | | X | | X | X |
| Archery | | WA | AAF | | | X | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Athletics | | World Athletics | CONSUDATLE | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Badminton | | BWF | BPA | | | | | | | | X | X | | X | X |
| Baseball | | WBSC | WBSC Americas | X | X | | X | X | | | | X | | | |
| Softball | | WBSC | WBSC Americas | | | | | X | | X | | X | | | |
| Basketball | | FIBA | ABASU | X | X | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X |
| Basque pelota | | FIPV | | | | | | | | | | | | X | |
| Bocce | | WPBF | | | | | | | | | X | | | | X |
| Bodybuilding | | IFBB | IFBBSud America | | | | | | X | | | | | | X |
| Bowling | | IBF | PABCON | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Boxing | | AIBA | AMBC | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Canoeing | | ICF | COPAC | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| BMX racing | | UCI | COPACI | | | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X |
| Mountain biking | | UCI | COPACI | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Road cycling | | UCI | COPACI | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Track cycling | | UCI | COPACI | X | X | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Equestrian | | FEI | PAEC | X | X | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X |
| Fencing | | FIE | CPE | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Field hockey | | FIH | PAHF | | | | | | | | X | | X | X | X |
| Football | | FIFA | CONMEBOL | X | X | X | | X | | | | X | X | X | X |
| Futsal | | FIFA | CONMEBOL | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Beach soccer | | FIFA | CONMEBOL | | | | | | | | | | | | X |
| Golf | | IGF | FSG | | | | | | | X | | | X | X | X |
| Artistic gymnastics | | FIG | CONSUGI | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rhythmic gymnastics | | FIG | CONSUGI | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Trampoline | | FIG | CONSUGI | | | | | | | | | | | X | X |
| Handball | | IHF | PATHF | | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Judo | | IJF | PJC | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Karate | | WKF | PKF | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Modern pentathlon | | UIPM | | | | | | | | | | | X | X | |
| Racquetball | | IRF | PARC | | | | | | X | | | | | X | |
| Artistic roller skating | | WS | CPRS | | X | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Roller hockey | | WS | CPRS | | X | | | | | | | | X | | |
| Roller speed skating | | WS | CPRS | | X | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| Rowing | | FISA | | | X | X | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rugby sevens | | WR | SAR | | | | | | | | | | X | X | X |
| Sailing | | World Sailing | SASC | | X | X | X | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Scuba diving | | | | | | X | | | | | | | | | |
| Shooting | | ISSF | CAT | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Squash | | WSF | FPS | | | | | | | | | X | | X | X |
| Table tennis | | ITTF | LATTU | | X | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Taekwondo | | WTF | PATU | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Tennis | | ITF | COSAT | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Triathlon | | TRI | PATCO | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Beach volleyball | | FIVB | CSV | | | | | | | | | X | X | X | X |
| Indoor volleyball | | FIVB | CSV | X | X | | | | | | | X | X | X | X |
| Water skiing | | IWWF | IWWF Pan Am | | | | | | | | X | X | X | X | X |
| Weightlifting | | IWF | PAWC | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Wrestling | | UWW | CPLA | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Total events | Total events | Total events | Total events | 171 | 249 | 193 | 260 | 296 | 357 | 380 | 463 | 486 | 317 | 373 |