Organization of a mega sports event like Pan American and Parapan American Games Santiago 2023 is “larger and more complex than Olympic games“, said Gustavo yesterday San Martín, Director of Sports Operations of the organizing committee.
That’s the magnitude of the challenge of this event, which is “like organizing 78 sports championships in six weeks,” said San Martín, who is of Peruvian descent and had the same role in Lima 2019, which led him to the position of president Peruvian Sports Institute.
The regional event has contests that will not be contested Paris 2024which makes its calendar more extensive, but it is also a qualifying event for the biggest Olympic meeting.
“There are expectations of athletes who come to qualify for these Games, that’s why everything in the sports part must be perfect,” he pointed out in the official podcast. ‘Games a day’, about the responsibility with which this logistics is approached.
Almost 7,000 athletes from 41 countries in 39 sports will participate in the nineteenth Pan American Games, while almost 2,000 athletes from 33 countries in 17 sports will participate in the Parapan American Games.
From next October 20, when the opening ceremony of the Pan American Games begins, 1,800 people will work together in the organizing committee to ensure that everything goes as planned.
An army of workers working like an accordion. It started as a core of 80 people, expanding as the days progressed towards the development of the competition, and will return to the starting cell when they finish closing the Games, an equally important task.
“The commitment of the organizing committee is to ensure the greatest possible excellence for the Games,” said San Martín, who heads two departments: Sports, which includes six functional areas of 360 people, and Operations, which includes 23 functional areas and currently 1,100 collaborators.
While the countdown is on to begin Games, San Martín is firm in carrying out his work and the work of his staff under his direction.
“The games are coming out, there’s no way we won’t make it. It’s up to us to get there and do it in the best possible way,” he said.
San Martin sHe feels an obligation to show his ability, partly because of his status as a foreigner in contrast to Lima 2019, when he worked to help his own country, and also because of his previous experience, which he sees as being put to the test. However, he declines the honor.
“The badge on their chest will go to the Chileans who worked here, when they see the games they made and can feel proud,” he pointed out.
The capital of Chileit will be the first time to host the biggest sports celebration on the continent, after two missed opportunities with the 1975 and 1987 editions, which were rejected for political and economic reasons.
