(ATR) The Pan American Sports Organization opens its general assembly in sorrow on the eve on the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
PASO president Julio Cesar Maglione led the assembly in a moment of silence for Reynaldo Gonzalez, the director general of PASO who succumbed to a heart attack in Mexico City three days ago.
Gonzalez, 66, had worked at PASO headquarters since 2001 and was an IOC member in Cuba since 1995.
Maglione mourned the loss of the energy and enthusiasm that Gonzalez displayed in his work supporting Olympic sports. Speaking to the assembly, IOC president Thomas Bach says the "sports world will never forget" the contribution of Gonzalez.
Gonzalez will be remembered again during the July 10 opening ceremony for the 2015 Pan Am Games, as will Mario Vazquez Rana, who died in February after nearly 40 years as PASO president.
Maglione tells Around the Rings that the PASO Executive Committee approved a $200,000 payment to Emilia, Gonzalez’s spouse. Gonzalez had no life insurance and for much of his tenure at PASO received a salary of $1,500 per month, says Maglione, who ordered an increase when he took over in March as interim president of the organization. Maglione says PASO is implementing changes to provide a better compensation and benefits for all of its employees.
Representatives from 41 NOCs are taking part in the assembly which lasts two days.
Bach will speak further to the assembly Wednesday on the future of the IOC and changes coming as a result of Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms passed in December by the IOC.
In other business, the assembly is expected to endorse the provisional recognition of surfing. The vote will set the stage for the sport to make its debut at the 2019 Pan Ams in Lima, one of the world’s surf hotspots.
The PASO assembly will also need to deal with a blow-out in the numbers of competitors currently booked to compete in the athletics events in Toronto. While organizers are planning for 600 competitors, more than 1,000 athletes have been listed for Toronto. PASO will have to find a way to cut the field by 400 by revising the qualification standard. The move will come just in time to keep athletes from needlessly traveling to Toronto; athletics won’t start until the final week of competition for the Pan Ams, which end July 26.
About 10,000 athletes and officials are expected for the games, with 36 sports on the program.
Saad Raafi, executive director of Toronto 2015 promised the PASO delegates to "stage the games like no other."
Reported and written in Toronto by Ed Hula
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