When was the first pan american games

They are conducted in a similar manner to the Olympic Summer Games and held one year prior to them. The Games are an opportunity for athletes to compete at the international level, particularly in preparation for the Olympic Summer Games.

They are the third largest international multi-sport Games, after only the Olympics and the Asian Games. A comparatively recent event, the first Pan Am Games were held at Buenos Aires Argentina in , when 19 nations were officially represented in 18 sports Canada did not officially compete in the first Games. Since then they have been celebrated in nine others countries across the Americas and the Caribbean. Winnipeg , Manitoba. Toronto , Ontario. There was little interest among member countries in the winter version of the Games and the concept was abandoned.

The Pan Am Games include all sports, events and disciplines that will be on the official programme of the next Olympic Summer Games which follow a year later. Aquatics Diving , Swimming. Baseball and Softball. Roller Sports. Canada did not officially compete in the Games although a small group of Canadian swimmers did give a demonstration in synchronized swimming , but it has been a consistent and successful competitor ever since, with Canadian athletes providing many world-class performances in a variety of sports.

The fifth Pan Am Games, held at Winnipeg , proved a fitting celebration for Canada's Centennial Year , when 2, athletes from 29 countries participated in 29 sports. By , when Winnipeg again hosted the Games, there were over 40 Western Hemisphere countries in attendance. It was just a wonderful, wonderful memory. One of the best. I knew what I could do and nothing could stop me. Like when I started first of all when I was a little girl swimming in California, it was the perfect environment because everybody swam down there.

Actually when I came back to Vancouver when I was nine, we moved back to Vancouver where I was born, and I joined the Dolphin Swim Club and I was so fortunate in the fact that I had one of the best technical coaches in the world whose name was Howard Furby, and Howard and I just clicked. We were like a symphony together. We just knew each other without even having to speak.

It was just the perfect combination and I just kind of, I just took things in stride. I guess I was kind of a pioneer, kind of setting a trail hopefully for other Canadians to follow. They were really important. Technically, things have changed. I think back then things were a little more organic. That we just kind of swam because we loved doing it.

Now there's so many other distractions. There's commercialism, there's endorsements, there's this and that. So really in a way it's comparing apples to oranges. Things have changed greatly. She was a multiple medal winner at the Pan Am Games, with two gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals, including the one she won in the metres at the Winnipeg Games. After her retirement in , she became the first woman Director General of Sport Canada, a position she held from to At the time, countries of the Commonwealth did not participate in the Pan American Sports Congress which established the Games.

Canada hosted the fifth and 13 th editions of the Games in Winnipeg in and and the 17th edition in Toronto in When are the Pan American Games? Where have the Pan American Games been held?