Concerned about the organization of the Central American Games due to the crisis in the Guatemalan Olympic Committee, leaders of the Central American Sports Organization (ORDECA) have called an emergency meeting this week in Santiago de Chile.
These Games have been scheduled to be held simultaneously in Guatemala and Costa Rica starting on October 27, 2022. The majority of the sports program will be in Guatemalan facilities.
Due to the bid for power in the Guatemalan Olympic Committee (COG) that has taken place in the last 10 months of legal battle, the COG is threatened with being suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for a violation of the Olympic Charter.
The Olympic fate of Guatemala is in the hands of the IOC Executive Commission that will meet on September 8 and 9 in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the event the IOC decides to withdraw recognition from the COG, Guatemala automatically ceases to have the right to organize the Games, so there would be no choice but to cancel them.
With less than two months to prepare, there would be no time for an emerging venue to save the Games in which more than 2,300 athletes would participate in 24 sports from seven nations: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
Around The Rings was able to see a letter that the president of ORDECA, Costa Rican Henry Núñez, sent to the members of the executive committee of that organization in which he summoned them for a meeting shortly after the conclusion of the Panam Sports General Assembly in Santiago de Chile.
The continental meeting will feature the presence of the leaders of the 41 NOCs of the Americas between August 30 and September 1, who will have the opportunity to see closely the progress of the preparations for the Pan American Games in the Chilean capital, scheduled to be played from October 20 to November 5, 2023.
“A face-to-face meeting of the ORDECA Executive Committee is called for Thursday, September 1 in the afternoon at the Panam Sports offices in Santiago, Chile. Agenda item: organization of the XII Central American Games in 2023, once the Panam Sports General Assembly is over,” says the letter sent by Núñez.
The Central American Games were originally scheduled for Santa Tecla, El Salvador, but local authorities declined to support them after strong contradictions with the National Olympic Committee.
This competition was scheduled for 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule was delayed to 2022, specifically in November. Last February ORDECA approved the emerging venues of Guatemala and Costa Rica to share the event.
Last week, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court confirmed the temporary protection that invalidates the election of the current leaders of the COG, after the vote in favor of three of its five magistrates. The IOC expected the revocation of that regulation.
In addition to the danger that Guatemala would have to give up organizing the Central American Games, a punishment from the IOC could also mean that its athletes cannot represent their country in the Olympic qualification competitions leading up to Paris 2024. If allowed to compete, they would do so without the flag, national anthem and official uniforms.
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