Over 50 Pan Am Records Broken in Toronto

(ATR) PASO vice president Ivar Sisniega tells Around the Rings the Pan Ams in Toronto feature stronger talent than the last Pan Am Games in Guadalajara in 2011.

"We have a better quality of athletes here than we did four years ago. We have more Olympic qualifiers than we did four years ago. That’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing so many records broken," Sisniega says, adding that more than 50 Pan Am records have been broken thus far.

"The objective is to have the best athletes in the American continents at the Pan Am Games. I think to a very high percentage, maybe 90 percent, we’ve done that here," he tells ATR.

Sisniega says that the athlete quality has helped create these excellent games in Toronto.

"From the outset, we spoke about athlete-centered games and about games where the athlete experience will be very positive. We’ve had that by having great sports facilities – many at an Olympic level – and that has been perhaps ratified by the performance and amount of records that have been broken," he says.

Before the Pan Ams began July 10, Sisniega and other members of the PASO executive board were concerned about the distances between venues and the transportation for athletes, officials and spectators. Now that the games are nearing a close, Sisniega tells ATR this hasn’t caused any real issues.

"The issue we thought might give us more trouble was transportation because of the distances, but it hasn’t been a serious problem or as serious as we thought it might be. The measures [Toronto] put into place seem to be working very well," he says.

The main measure put in place by Toronto has been a series of temporary HOV lanes throughout the city and to surrounding areas where some venues are located. Many residents have complained about the lanes and the requirement of three people in a vehicle needed to use them. However, Sisniega says the lanes have done their job well.

"My experience with the HOV lanes has been fantastic. We’ve pretty much avoided the traffic problems based on this. We are very appreciative of the effort by everybody to make this work because it has helped athletes get to the competitions on time," Sisniega tells ATR.

Throughout the Pan Ams, Sisniega and the rest of the PASO executive board have met on a daily basis to talk about possible changes within PASO moving forward and discuss any issues with these games in Toronto with the organizing committee.

Sisniega tells ATR that Wednesday morning discussions involved how to make the next Pan Am Games in Lima better than these games in Toronto.

"We are planning a debriefing in Lima a couple of months after the games where we are looking at details into each aspect of the games. I think we will have the most extensive transfer of knowledge from one games to another, something we haven’t done as much in the past," he says.

"We want to make sure that it’s documented that we look not just from the organizers' perspective, but from the PASO perspective, things we can improve and do better for next time. We are creating a very extensive meeting and looking in detail to each one of the functionaries of these games," he continued.

Concerning any new PASO statutes and the new constitution moving forward, Sisniega says the PASO executive board will circulate major revisions to all of the NOCs a week after the games. Sisniega said he did not want to discuss any possible changes before the NOCs had a chance to review the changes but did say changes are being made.

"There are some substantial changes, not very many but two or three that are very important for the future of PASO," Sisniega tells ATR.

After the Pan Ams conclude July 26, Sisniega will head back to Mexico for the junior world championships in the modern pentathlon that begin two weeks after the games. The next meeting for PASO he will attend will be during the ANOC meeting in October.

Written by Kevin Nutley in Toronto.

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