The South American Games in Asunción mark a setback for Argentine sports

It is the first step towards the ultimate dream, but it is a misstep for national sports. The South American Games taking place in Asunción are the first door on the path to the Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris in 2024. The Argentine delegation’s performance, so far, registers as a setback.

After seven days of activity in Paraguayan lands, the athletes representing the country are going through a path of irregularity and are in fifth place on the medal table, and there’s one detail that is not of little important: Chile surpasses the sky-blue and white flag for the first time.

In Rowing, out of 14 golds, the Argentine delegation barely won a specialty, against 6 from Chile and Uruguay; unprecedented. In Swimming, with a full squad, Argentina grabbed 5 golds against 34 for Brazil. They were last place in Weightlifting, adding more frustrations to sports. Nor could they aspire to any joy in men’s soccer, which they said goodbye to in the first round.

Colombia, which had been behind Argentina in the Pan American Games in Lima, battles Brazil for first place. Argentina is now struggling to maintain 5th place, in a landscape void of superpowers, except for Brazil. Clearly a situation that worries the sports leadership of our country, taking into account that this process will be essential to a good showing in the 2024 Games, the end goal.

Some finals favorable to our delegation are yet to be disputed, although they do not compare with the enormous distribution of gold medals that characterize Track and field, Boxing, Cycling and combat sports.

On the growing path, Lima 2019 was an ever more distant ceiling. Our Prospects for the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023 look to be those of protagonists of a decline of at least 3 places on the continental medal table. Lima was a while before the pandemic and today it reveals a marked contrast in results between one event and the other. That’s how fast and relentless high performance is.

Sports, as in any organized activity, reward talent and work. We Argentines have, once again, moved away from professional and methodical work. Now we only rely on an athlete’s talent, which at a certain level, falls short when facing countries that support a serious and long-term project. With each passing day, quantity moves away from quality.

High Performance requires talent and professionalism. These athletes are not worse than those in recent sporting events: the setback is due to the lack of coherent planning, to confusing basic aspects when applying the resources available, which are not enough, but are squandered on the wrong ideas, far from technical and professional fundamentals. In the world of high performance, this reality distances us from the advancing world.

Argentina took the largest delegation, which puts us in the worst athlete/result ratio. Sports require continuity, rather than accommodating resources to the requirements of the politicians on duty.

Will the day come when sports are handled technically and by the best professionals’ hands? We don’t know, but for the good of the sport we hope it happens.