(ATR) The Pan American Games come to an end with Team USA atop the medal tally, Ricky Martin in the spotlight and talk of a future Olympic bid from Guadalajara.
Sunday’s closing ceremony featured a deluge of fireworks, a rousing rendition of 1999 smash hit "Livin’ La Vida Loca" and a healthy dose of praise for the Mexican hosts, a fitting conclusion to a competition largely free of problems.
Guadalajara rose to the occasion, the consensus seems to be, despite a spate of construction delays in the months, weeks and even days before the Games.
When the curtain lifted Oct. 14 at Omnilife Stadium, however, organizers proved what they had been telling stakeholders from the get-go – that everything would be ready when the time came.
Seventeen days later, Jalisco governor and organizing committee president Emilio González Márquezis thinking past the Pan Ams.
"We have built confidence, pride, recognition," he said during Sunday's closing ceremony.
"We have done things right here, so now we go for the Olympics."
There had been talk of another bid for the Youth Olympic Games ever since Guadalajara withdrew its 2014 candidacy weeks before the host vote.
The Olympics, however, are a different story. Mexico City hosted the Summer Games in 1968 but hasn’t bid since.
PASO president Mario Vazquez Rana, also an IOC member from Mexico, called Guadalajara 2011 "the best Pan American Games in history" but stopped short of any Olympic bid speculation.
"Thank you very much," he told the sold-out crowd of 50,000, "and see you in Toronto 2015."
Stay tuned Tuesday for more on the handover ceremony from Mexico to its Canadian counterpart.
By the Numbers
A total of 6,003 athletes competed in Guadalajara, a record that caused a bit of distress for all involvedand that Toronto will reportedly try to keep down come 2015.
The hosts can also boast of their best ever Pan Ams finish with 133 total medals, good for fourth on the final tally.
USA led the way with 236, one shy of the all-time high set in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. Brazil had the second most medals with 141 total, 42 of them gold. Cuba rounded out the top three with 136 total and 58 gold.
In all,29 of the 41 competing countries plus Netherlands Antilles won a medal in the 36 sports on the program.
Several countries produced their best ever performances at these Pan Ams, including Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela.
Chile did too despite only two golds. Its 43 medals are good for ninth when ranked by total but only 13th by number of golds won.
Media Watch
The Toronto Star gives a mixed review to the Guadalajara Games in this report card of sorts.
In the Jamaica Observer, Hartley Anderson questions whether the Pan American Games have "outlived their usefulness" in the present format.
The National Post’s Sean Fitz-Gerald lists 10 lessons that Toronto should take away from the 2011 Pan Ams.
Written by Matthew Grayson.
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