2023 Pan American Games

2023 Pan American Games
The 2023 Pan American Games, officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is an international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, being held in Santiago, Chile from October 20 to November 5, 2023; preliminary rounds in certain events began on October 18, 2023. These are the first Pan American Games to be held in Chile, and the eighth to be held in South America.
The games are being held in 39 venues across in the Santiago Metropolitan Region and another three regions of Chile. The Pan American Games and the 2023 Parapan American Games were organized by the Santiago Organizing Committee for the 2023 Pan and Parapan American Games.
Bidding process
Two bids were submitted for the 2023 Pan American Games. Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina both submitted bids. On February 1, 2017, the Pan American Sports Organization (now Panam Sports) announced the two cities as the official bids. Buenos Aires withdrew their bid in April 2017 due to not having the necessary finances or logistics to host this event and the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.
Host city election
Santiago was unanimously acclaimed as the host city at the ANOC General Assembly in Prague on November 4, 2017. This will mark the first time Chile hosts the Pan American Games. Santiago was initially awarded the right to host the 1975 and later 1987 Pan American Games, but withdrew as host both times due to financial and political problems. Most recently, Santiago was a candidate for the 2019 Pan American Games but lost to Lima.
Development and preparation
Financing
The budget for the games is $507 million USD, with $170 million reserved for the building of ten new sporting venues and the upgrade of six arenas. The budget is about 36% of what was spent for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada and 50% of the last Pan American Games in 2019, in Lima, Peru.
Venues
Various venues across Santiago and various other cities will be used for the games, including Viña del Mar, Valparaíso and Algarrobo. In March 2022, the first venue for the games was officially inaugurated: the field hockey stadium on the National Stadium Grounds.
In June 2022, organizers revealed the final venue plan consisting of 41 competition venues. 39 will be used for the Games, with the other two being used exclusively for the 2023 Parapan American Games. The venues span four regions of the country: Santiago, Valparaíso, O'Higgins and Biobío.
Athletes Village
In December 2021, a ceremony was held to lay the first brick for the village. The village is expected to cost approximately $100 million USD, and will consist of 1,345 apartments. After the games, the village will be converted to social housing. The village is being built in the Cerrillos Bicentennial Park community of Santiago.
Torch relay
The Pan American Flame was lit at the Pyramid of the Moon in the pre-Hispanic Mexican city of Teotihuacan, and the torch relay began on 5 October 2023 and ended at the opening ceremony with the lighting of the cauldron. There were three torches, with each torch travelling to different areas of Santiago and Chile.
The Games
Ceremonies
The opening ceremony was held on 20 October at Estadio Nacional. The ceremony consisted of a cultural display showcasing all of Chile's diversity. The games were opened by President Gabriel Boric, with IOC President Thomas Bach and Panam Sports President Neven Ilic also attending the ceremony. Musical performances included Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra. The cauldron was lit by 1951 Pan American Games silver medalist Lucy Lopez, and the only two Chilean Olympic gold medallists Nicolás Massú and Fernando González.
The closing ceremony is scheduled to be held on 5 November.
Participating National Olympic Committees
40 National Olympic Committees who are members of the Pan American Sports Organization are scheduled to compete.The 41st National Olympic Committee would be Guatemala, which however has its NOC suspended and its athletes will compete as PASO Individual Athletes. This total number does not include the numbers of athletes registered for e-Sports which will be a sport of demonstration.
Sports
A total of 425 events in 39 sports will be contested at the 2023 Pan American Games: breaking, skateboarding (as a discipline of roller sports), and sport climbing are making their Pan-Am Games debut, while bodybuilding was dropped after its debut in 2019. Men's and women's team Kyorugi events were also added in taekwondo. Another new events for this edition are the synchronized trampoline in gymnastics, 1,000 metres sprint event in roller speed skating and the mixed eights event in rowing. Meanwhile the mixed team event in golf was dropped for this edition and weightlifting events were reduced by four (to mirror the 2024 Olympics program).
Panam Sports announced an initial program of 33 sports in March 2020, consisting of the 28 "core" sports that will be contested at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, along with baseball/softball, karate, roller sports (artistic, speed, and skateboarding), surfing, and water skiing. Panam Sports did not rule out the addition of further sports, provided that they did not increase the infrastructural costs of the Games. In December 2020, basque pelota, bowling, racquetball, squash, and sport climbing were added to the program, expanding it to 38 sports. On June 24, 2022, breakdancing (breaking) was added to the program as its 39th sport, serving as a qualifier for its Olympic debut at Paris 2024.
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events to be contested in each sport/discipline.
Aquatics
Baseball
Volleyball
Calendar
Medal table
Key
Media
In February 2022, Mediapro reached an agreement to serve as host broadcaster of Santiago 2023; for the first time, every event held across the Pan-American and Parapan American Games will be televised, nearly doubling the hours of coverage that will be available to rightsholders in comparison to 2019. In September 2022, the country's public broadcaster Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) reached an agreement to serve as the domestic broadcaster of the Games. In early-2023, the commercial networks Canal 13 and Chilevisión also acquired rights to the Games.
Marketing
The emblem of the 2023 Pan American and Parapan American Games was unveiled on July 17, 2019. The slogan of the Games, "Dream, Play, Win" was unveiled in February 2022; organizers chose the slogan because it "speaks to the experience of every athlete young and old".
An online poll was held in August 2021 to determine the mascot of the 2023 Pan American and Parapan American Games. Five candidates were presented, based on plants and wildlife native to Chile. On October 16, 2021, Fiu—a many-colored rush tyrant—was announced as the winner of the vote. Its design is described as reflecting the "diversity of human beings and especially athletes", and symbolizing that "being small does not mean you cannot give it your best effort".
Sponsorships
Multiple companies helped sponsor the 2023 Pan American Games.
Official sponsor
Antofagasta Minerals
BancoEstado
LATAM Airlines Group
Mitsubishi Motors
Ottobock
Official providers
ADN
Cachantun
Gatorade
PF Alimentos
Official supporters
Red Bull
Copec
Proud supporters
Michelob
Molten
Casillero del Diablo
Astara
Government partners
Senadis
Marca Chile
Sernatur
ProChile
See also
2022 South American Games
2023 Central American and Caribbean Games
2025 Junior Pan American Games
References
External links
PASO website
2023 Pan American Games
Pan American Games
Pan American Games
Pan American Games
International sports competitions hosted by Chile
Multi-sport events in Chile
Sports competitions in Santiago
2023 in Chile
2023 in South American sport