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Pan American Games facts for kids

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Pan American Games
Abbreviation Pan Am Games
First event 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occur every four years
Last event 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada
Purpose Multi-sport event for nations on the American continent

The Pan American Games are a multi-sport event, held every four years between competitors from all nations of the Americas.

History

Pan American Games were going to be started in 1932, but World War II caused the first Pan American Games to happen on 1951. From that time, the Games are held every four years.

More than 5000 athletes from more than 40 countries have attended the recent Games. USA has won most gold, silver and bronze medals in total. Hopefully, that will change because it's unfair that they always win. Everyone else has barely any people and then they send in 800 to compete.

List of Pan American Games

Pan American Games host countries
Map of Pan American Games locations (host cities in red dots). Countries that have hosted one Pan Am Games are shaded green, while countries that have hosted two or more are shaded blue.

The host city for a Pan American Games is usually chosen six years ahead of their celebration. The process of selection is carried out in two phases that span a two-year period. The prospective host city applies to its country's Olympic Committee; if more than one city from the same country submits a proposal to its NOC, the national committee typically holds an internal selection, since only one city per NOC can be presented to the Pan American Sports Organization for consideration. Once the deadline for submission of proposals by the NOCs is reached, the first phase (Application) begins with the applicant cities asked to complete a questionnaire regarding several key criteria related to the organization of the Pan American Games Games. In this form, the applicants must give assurances that they will comply with the Olympic Charter and with any other regulations established by PASO's Executive Committee. The evaluation of the filled questionnaires by a specialized group provides PASO with an overview of each applicant's project and their potential to host the Games. On the basis of this technical evaluation, PASO's Executive Board selects the applicants that will proceed to the candidature stage.

Once the candidate cities are selected, they must submit to PASO a bigger and more detailed presentation of their project as part of a candidature file. Each city is thoroughly analyzed by an evaluation commission. This commission will visit the candidate cities, interviewing local officials and inspecting prospective venue sites, and submit a report on its findings one month before the PASO's final decision. During the interview process the candidate city must guarantee that it will be able to fund the Games. After the work of the evaluation commission, a list of candidates is presented to the General Session of PASO, which is assembled in a country that must not have a candidate city in the running. The members of PASO gathered in the Session have the final vote on the host city. Once elected, the host city bid committee (together with the NOC of the respective country) signs a Host City Contract with PASO, officially becoming a Pan American Games host nation and host city.

The Pan American Games have been hosted by 15 cities in 10 countries. Mexico and Canada have hosted three Pan American Games each, more than any other nation. Among cities, only Winnipeg and Mexico City have played host to the Pan American Games more than once, each hosting twice.


Edition Year Host City Host Nation Opened by Start Date End Date Nations Competitors Sports Events Top Placed Team
I 1951 Buenos Aires  Argentina President Juan Domingo Perón 25 February 9 March 21 2,513 18 140  Argentina (ARG)
II 1955 Mexico City  Mexico President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines 12 March 26 March 22 2,583 17 146  United States (USA)
III 1959 Chicago  United States Milton S. Eisenhower 27 August 7 September 25 2,263 15 166 United States (USA)
IV 1963 São Paulo  Brazil Adhemar de Barros 20 April 5 May 22 1,665 19 160  United States (USA)
V 1967 Winnipeg  Canada Prince Philip 23 July 6 August 29 2,361 19 169  United States (USA)
VI 1971 Cali  Colombia President Misael Pastrana Borrero 30 July 13 August 32 2,935 17 164  United States (USA)
VII 1975 Mexico City  Mexico President Luis Echeverría 12 October 26 October 33 3,146 19 190  United States (USA)
VIII 1979 San Juan  Puerto Rico Carlos Romero Barceló 1 July 15 July 34 3,700 21 249  United States (USA)
IX 1983 Caracas  Venezuela President Luis Herrera Campins 14 August 29 August 36 3,426 22 249  United States (USA)
X 1987 Indianapolis  United States Vice-President George H. W. Bush 7 August 23 August 38 4,360 27 296  United States (USA)
XI 1991 Havana  Cuba President Fidel Castro 2 August 18 August 39 4,519 28 331  Cuba (CUB)
XII 1995 Mar del Plata  Argentina President Carlos Menem 12 March 26 March 42 5,144 34 408  United States (USA)
XIII 1999 Winnipeg  Canada Governor General Roméo LeBlanc 23 July 8 August 42 5,083 33 330  United States (USA)
XIV 2003 Santo Domingo  Dominican Republic Hipólito Mejía 1 August 17 August 42 5,223 34 338  United States (USA)
XV 2007 Rio de Janeiro  Brazil Carlos Arthur Nuzman 13 July 29 July 42 5,633 33 331  United States (USA)
XVI 2011 Guadalajara  Mexico President Felipe Calderón 14 October 30 October 42 5,996 36 361  United States (USA)
XVII 2015 Toronto  Canada Governor General David Johnston 10 July 26 July 41 6,132 36 364  United States (USA)
XVIII 2019 Lima  Peru 26 July 11 August 41 TBD 38 423 TBD
XIX 2023 Santiago  Chile 6 October 22 October 41 TBD 39 TBD TBD

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Juegos Panamericanos para niños

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