Centro Caribe Sports launches its Junior Games for 2024 and confirms Santo Domingo will host the Centennial Games in 2026

The regional sports organization Centro Caribe Sports (CCS) announced the creation of a new multidisciplinary project, the Junior Games, to be held in 2024.

The president of CCS, Luis Mejía Oviedo, commented to Around The Rings the event would be in line with the second Junior Pan American Games of 2025. Neither of the two contests have an exact date and venues yet.

The location on the calendar of these First Central American and Caribbean Junior Games will especially draw attention, taking into account that 2024 will see the Paris Olympic Games.

The novelty was commented on in the context of the Extraordinary Assembly of CCS convened in Cali, Colombia, which is currently the venue for the Junior Pan American Games by Panam Sports.

The fact these mega-events can finally be held in the face of the aftermath of the terrible global pandemic is the first success of sports authorities with the backing of their respective governments.

Precisely, the official support of the Government of the Dominican Republic chaired by Luis Abinader, was what CCS expected to certify the celebration in Santo Domingo of the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games in 2026.

In what was considered “a ratification procedure” before delegates from more than thirty CCS member countries, President Abinader expressed, through a video, his “total support” for the organization of the “Centennial Games” .

In 1926 these first regional games were held in Mexico City, which are considered the oldest in the world.

The Dominican Republic has experience in staging these contests, having organized the Pan American Games in 2003 and the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1974 and 1986.

For this new edition, Santo Domingo had remained the only candidate after the withdrawal from the Mexican city of León.

The Dominican delegation that appeared before the auditorium was made up of the president of the National Olympic Committee, Antonio Acosta, the sports minister Francisco Camacho, businessman Felipe Vicini, promoter of the “Creating Olympic Dreams” project, and José Manuel Ramos and Arístides Fernández , of the Management Committee of the headquarters.

Similarly, but with just a year and a half to organize the Games, it is that of San Salvador that remained the last lifeline of the mega-event after Mayagüez, Puerto Rico declined due to lack of financial support.

Both cities had stepped forward in an emerging way after the original headquarters, Panama City, abruptly resigned in the summer of 2020.

San Salvador will host the regional Games in May 2023. The president of the Organizing Committee, Yamil Bukele, and the new president of the Olympic Committee of El Salvador, Armando Bruni, reported on the preparations. Both trust that, despite the great challenge of time. “They will be the best Games in history.”

“We will have to run, but we know that these Games are of the utmost importance because of the legacy they will leave in the country,” said Bruni.

“El Salvador is working in a coordinated manner and the President of the Republic is happy to organize the event” said Yamil Bukele, president of the National Sports Institute and brother of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele.

Authorities from Santa Marta, Colombia, presented their progress in the assembly of the First Central American and Caribbean Beach Games, scheduled for November 2022.

Santa Marta already hosted the Bolivarian Games in 2017 and is also preparing to sponsor the 5th South American Beach Games in 2023.

The zonal calendar also includes the Caribbean Games in Guadeloupe, between June and July 2022, organized by the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees.