Lima, Peru; 29 March 2019: A robust delegation representing the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Paralympics and individual sport governing bodies wrapped up two productive days of meetings and site visits with the Lima 2019 Organising Committee yesterday, with Team USA Chef de Mission Kelly Skinner declaring, "We can’t wait to come back for the Games."
This was the fourth U.S. delegation to visit the hosts of this summer’s Pan American and Parapan American Games, and the largest delegation of any nation so far. Olympic and Paralympic officials were joined by representatives of U.S. National Governing Bodies as the team fine-tunes preparations to send 650-700 athletes to the Pan American Games and 200-300 athletes to the Parapan American Games.
The U.S. Olympic Committee’s Lima 2019 Chef de Mission Kelly Skinner praised the organisers’ progress since his last visit to Peru. "This visit has been spectacular," he said. "I was here in January and the changes that have already happened are impressive. You can see the passion for these Games and the commitment to the success of these Games coming through all the time. We’re excited, we can’t wait to come back for the Games themselves, and right now everything looks really, really good."
A record number of Pan American and Parapan American Games events at Lima 2019 will be Olympic and Paralympic Games qualifiers. With an eye on Tokyo 2020, Team USA will boast several reigning Olympic and Paralympic champions from Rio 2016, including women’s water polo and men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball.
"Our preparations are coming along very well," said Skinner. "This meeting is a key part of that for us – to bring some of the sports here to experience Lima, to see the Village and the venues, to make sure they’re really ready to perform when they get here. We are pleased with the opportunity for our athletes to come to Lima, represent Team USA, have an unbelievable experience, maybe qualify to go to the Olympic Games – and be part of an event that includes members of the world and interact with our neighbours from other Pan American countries. We’re very, very excited about that."
U.S. Paralympics Director of Games Operations Charlie Paddock highlighted the strong working relationship between the U.S. delegation and the organising committee. "The coordination with Lima 2019 has been great. The venues are wonderful, and we enjoy coming down here every single time to see the progress of the Village and the venues, and the progress of the planning. We’re so excited to bring our delegation so they can experience what Lima 2019 has been preparing. Our Team USA athletes are excited to get down here and compete against all of the region’s best."
On day one of the visit, the U.S. delegation visited the Athletes’ Village at Villa El Salvador which was completed ahead of schedule earlier this week and in legacy mode will be the most accessible affordable housing complex in Peru. The delegation also visited all the major sports clusters, including the venues for athletics, swimming, boxing, equestrian and surfing.
Day two of the visit comprised a series of in-depth working meetings with individual sports and venue managers, as well as key operational functions like accreditation, transportation, security, food and medical services.
ABOUT LIMA 2019
This continental event will gather 6,680 athletes from 41 countries and delegations from the Americas. There will be 17 days of competitions and ceremonies from 26 July - 11 August, which will take place in 14 districts of Lima and Callao at various venues like VIDENA, Villa María del Triunfo Sports Center, Callao Regional Village, Villa El Salvador Sports Center, Punta Rocas, among others.
The Lima 2019 Pan American Games will include 39 sports and 62 disciplines, in which athletes will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals. A total of 23 disciplines are qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The Parapan American Games will gather 1890 Para athletes from 33 countries, participating in 17 sports and 18 disciplines. Competitions will take place from 23 August - 1 September, 2019. Fourteen sports will be qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
ABOUT PANAM SPORTS
Panam Sports (formerly known as Pan American Sports Organization - PASO) is the governing body of the Pan American Games and its structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter. Panam Sports is the leader of sports and the Olympic Movement in the Americas and encourages the sports development and supports the work of its 41 National Olympic Committees members, in order to inspire more world-class performances and the next generation of athletes across our region.
ABOUT IPC AND APC
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the international governing body of the Paralympic Movement. Its objective is to organize the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and to act as the International Federation of nine sports, in order to supervise and coordinate the World Championships and other competitions.
The Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) was established in August 1997 with the aim of creating a Para sport governing body for the Americas. Since 2007, the Parapan American Games are held in the same city as the Pan American Games.
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