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Host | Winnipeg, Canada |
---|---|
Motto | Americas' Fest |
Nations | 42 |
Athletes | 5,083 |
Events | 330 in 34 sports |
Opening | July 23 |
Closing | August 8 |
Opened by | Governor General Roméo LeBlanc |
Cauldron lighter | Alwyn Morris Silken Laumann |
Main venue | Winnipeg Stadium |
The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and cities. Canoeing competitions started the day before the games officially began. Approximately 5,000 athletes from 42 nations participated in the games to vie for a total of 330 medal events in 34 sports and 42 disciplines. [1]
Financially, the 1999 games were a success, generating a surplus of $8.9 million [2] [3] through a combination of fiscal restraint [4] and the contribution of nearly 20,000 volunteers. [5]
The 1999 Pan American Games were the second Pan American Games hosted by Canada and Winnipeg. [2] Previously, Winnipeg hosted the 1967 Pan American Games. [2]
Winnipeg beat both Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Bogotá, Colombia in 1994 to win hosting rights for the event. [6]
In 1988, a delegation from Winnipeg announced that once it got approval from the Canadian Olympic Association, the city would submit a bid to host the 1999 Pan American Games. On December 5, 1992, Winnipeg secured the Canadian bidding rights, defeating Toronto by one vote. Other Canadian cities in the running were Halifax, Edmonton, and Sherbrooke. [7] [8] Toronto would later go on to host the 2015 Pan American Games, 16 years later. [9]
Any country that had previously held the games were allotted two votes; those countries were Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States and Venezuela, making 50 votes in total, and a city needed majority vote (26) to win. Canada and Colombia were not allowed to vote, as they each had a city making a bid. [10]
After the first round of voting, Bogotá was eliminated having the fewest voting with 10 votes. In the second round, Winnipeg and Santo Domingo reached a 25-to-25 tie. Canadian Bidding Committee Co-Chairman Don Mackenzie managed to convince delegates from three National Olympic Committees to change their votes before the tiebreaker round, focusing on the fact that "Santo Domingo had no place for water-skiing, but Portage la Prairie has one of the best water-skiing facilities in Canada." Winnipeg went on to defeat Santo Domingo by a vote of 28 to 22. [11] Santo Domingo later won the rights to the next games in 2003. [11]
City | NOC | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Winnipeg | Canada | 22 | 25 | 28 |
Santo Domingo | Dominican Republic | 18 | 25 | 22 |
Bogotá | Colombia | 10 | — | — |
A total of 32 sporting venues were used for the games. The Pan Am Pool, built for the 1967 games, featured in the 1999 games for all aquatic events. The venue underwent a $3.3 million dollar renovation for the games. [12] Other new venues included the $8.7 million dollar Investors Group Athletic Centre built for multiple sports and the $12 million dollar CanWest Global Park for the baseball competition. [12]
The main stadium for the games was the Winnipeg Stadium, which staged the ceremonies and the beach volleyball competitions. [13]
A portion of the Pan American Games Society (PANAM'99) budget supported the refurbishment of University of Manitoba residences to serve as the Athletes Village, the upgrade of various sport and training facilities including the Pan Am Stadium (University Stadium), which had hosted events of the 1967 games. [14]
The Winnipeg Velodrome, also built for the 1967 games, had become obsolete and disused for cycling and so was demolished prior to the 1999 games. The cycling venue was a temporary facility at Red Rived Exhibition Park.
The opening ceremony of the 1999 Pan American Games took place on Friday July 23, 1999, beginning at 19:30 p.m. CDT and lasted for two hours and forty-five minutes at the Winnipeg Stadium. [15] A crowd of 30,000 spectators attended the ceremony. [15] Seven Aboriginal Canadians, who were denied entrance into the 1967 Pan American Games, also in Winnipeg, this time entered the stadium with the torch while on canoes. [15] Former Olympians Alwyn Morris and Silken Laumann were the final two torchbearers who lit the cauldron. [16] A total of 3,400 performers took part in the ceremony, including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and singer Jeremy Kushnier. [15] Singer Chantal Kreviazuk sang the national anthem, O Canada as part of the ceremony. [17] Governor General Roméo LeBlanc officially opened the games. [15] One of the dignitaries in attendance was Anne, Princess Royal. [18]
All 42 nations of PASO competed.
330 events in 34 sports were contested. Beach volleyball and inline hockey made its Pan American Games debut. [20] While a women's tournaments in football and water polo were held for the first time. [21] [22] [23]
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.
Perhaps the greatest drug scandal in the sport of track and field, since Ben Johnson disqualification at the 1988 Summer Olympics, occurred here when Javier Sotomayor the current high jump world record holder tested positive for cocaine. A Cuban national hero, his subsequent suspension was fought from the highest levels, with Fidel Castro claiming it was an anti-Cuba conspiracy staged by the United States. [24] Despite a second positive test for cocaine a few months later, Sotomayor eventually had his suspension reduced by a year, [25] just in time to win the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A year later he retired, when he faced another positive drug test. [26]
Canada was stripped of its gold medal for inline hockey when the team's goaltender Steve Vézina tested positive for multiple banned substances. [1]
1 | Host nation |
To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title.
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States | 106 | 109 | 80 | 295 |
2 | Cuba | 70 | 40 | 47 | 157 |
3 | Canada 1 | 64 | 52 | 80 | 196 |
4 | Brazil | 25 | 32 | 44 | 101 |
5 | Argentina | 25 | 19 | 28 | 72 |
The 1999 Games' mascot features two birds named Pato (Wood duck) and Lorita (Parrot). [27]
The 1999 Pan Am games have been "seen by many Winnipeggers as a chance to put their city squarely in the international spotlight". [28] Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray became nationally well known as a result of the Games and thanks to extensive coverage by the CBC, anchored by CBC Sports' Brian Williams. However, the Games themselves only had mixed success, as the Pan Am Games ranked below the Olympics and Commonwealth Games in international prestige. The Games cost $129 million CDN and finished with a financial surplus of $8.8 million CDN.
Hosts Canada celebrated its medal haul, which was the second best after the United States. However, some considered Canada's results overrated, since the U.S. amassed the most medals with a mostly second-string team while Canada and Cuba had fielded their top national athletes. Cuba also managed more golds than Canada, despite having a smaller roster. [28]
Frequent comparisons were made to the 1967 Pan Am Games, also hosted by Winnipeg, where the United States had fielded many rising stars, such as Mark Spitz. By comparison, the Americans had sent their "B" team to the 1999 Games. No major U.S. networks covered the Pan Am Games, except for the Spanish-language network Univisión, while newspapers only sent second-string reporters instead and the stories never made front page news. [28] Many high-profile athletes, of all nationalities, such as U.S. champion sprinters and Brazilian football players, were in Europe during these Pan Am games, taking part in professional events. South American nations (with the exception of Uruguay) did not send their under-23 male soccer teams after the organizing committee refused to pay appearance money to CONMEBOL. [29]
In 1999, Parapan American Games was not hosted in Winnipeg but rather in Mexico City. The inaugural event involved 1,000 athletes from 18 countries competing in four sports.
The Pan American Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. It is the second oldest continental games in the world. The only Winter Pan American Games were held in 1990. In 2021, the Junior Pan American Games was held for the first time specifically for young athletes. The Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) is the governing body of the Pan American Games movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.
Winnipeg Arena was an indoor arena located in the Polo Park district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The 1963 Pan American Games were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil.
The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967.
The 1971 Pan American Games were held in Cali, Colombia, from July 30 to August 13, 1971. A total of 2,935 athletes from 32 countries participated in 17 sports.
The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from 2 to 18 August 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was the Estadio Panamericano, a multi-use stadium in Havana that holds 50,000 people.
Badminton has been part of the Pan American Games since the 1995 Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Canada has dominated the badminton events since its inception. At the most recent edition of the games in 2019, in Lima, five nations won medals, with Canada taking home four of the five titles.
The Badminton Competition at the 1999 Pan American Games was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. There was a total of five events. At the end of the tournament, the host country Canada won three gold medals in the men's, women's and mixed doubles, while the United States captured two golds in the men's and women's singles.
The Pan Am Pool is an indoor swimming facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada built for the 1967 Pan American Games. It is located in southwest Winnipeg and consists of three pools: two are used for competitive swimming and one is a children's "kiddie pool".
The 2015 Pan American Games, officially the XVII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, as governed by Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). The games were held from July 10 to 26, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; preliminary rounds in certain events began on July 7, 2015. These were the third Pan American Games hosted by Canada, and the first in the province of Ontario. The Games were held at venues in Toronto and 17 other Golden Horseshoe communities. The Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games were organized by the Toronto Organizing Committee for the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games (TO2015).
Canada has competed at every edition of the Pan American Games since the second edition of the multi-sport event in 1955. As of the last Pan American Games in 2019, Canada is third on the all time medals list, only behind the United States and Cuba. Canada is also one of nine countries to have competed at the only Winter Pan American Games, and only of one two to win a medal at the games.
The 2019 Pan American Games, officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Peru 2019 Pan-Am Games or Peru 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminary rounds in certain events having begun on July 24, 2019. These were the first Pan American Games to be held in Peru, and the seventh to be held in South America.
The 2015 Parapan American Games, officially the V Parapan American Games and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 ParaPan-Am Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Parapan American Games as governed by the Americas Paralympic Committee, held from August 7 to 15, 2015, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Marking the first Parapan American games hosted by Canada, and the second major Paralympic sports event hosted by Toronto since the 1976 Summer Paralympics, the Games were held at venues in Toronto and four other Golden Horseshoe communities. Both the Parapan American and Pan American Games were organized by the Toronto 2015 Organizing Committee (TO2015).
Baseball at the 1999 Pan American Games was held between July 25 and August 2 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. A total of nine teams competed: Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and the United States. The primary venue for this competition was CanWest Global Park, while Stonewall Quarry Park in Stonewall, Manitoba, was used as a secondary venue.
Canada competed in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto from July 10 to 26, 2015. As the host nation, the team competed in all 36 sports.
Badminton competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from July 11 to 16 at the Markham Pan Am Centre in Markham. Due to naming rights the arena was known as the latter for the duration of the games. A total of five badminton events will be held: two each for men and women, along with a mixed doubles event.
Three cities submitted bids to host the 1999 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization. The voting took place on July 31, 1994, in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The 2021 Junior Pan American Games was an international multi-sports event for athletes aged 17 to 22 in the Americas, organized by Panam Sports held in Cali and Valle, Colombia between November 25 to December 5, 2021.
ABC was the first American television network to broadcast the Pan American Games in 1963, when they devoted one episode of their Wide World of Sports anthology program to the games. They doubled their coverage to two episodes of the show in 1967. CBS then bought the rights to the 1975 and 1979 Games at the same time. Their coverage in 1975 was mainly shown on CBS Sports Spectacular, their equivalent to Wide World of Sports. CBS repeated the process of airing most of its coverage on CBS Sports Spectacular in 1979.
The 1999 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding area. The Pan American Games ran from July 23 to August 8, 1999.
Winnipeg – the only other Canadian city ever to be a Pan Am host, which it has done twice – had a modest goal as well as a modest budget.
Canada has won medals in women's water polo at every edition of the Pan Am Games since capturing gold in the event's debut at Winnipeg 1999.