Exclusive: Nuzman Says Pan Am Games Not at Proper Level

(ATR) Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Nuzman believes the focus on the Pan American Sports Organization presidential race must be restoring the glory for the Pan American Games.

Speaking to Around the Rings exclusively, Nuzman outlined how he would reform the body’s flagship continental event to return its lost luster. Nuzman is one of three candidates left in the PASO presidential race along with Neven Ilic of Chile and Jose Puello of the Dominican Republic.

Nuzman’s campaign focuses on his experience running both the Rio 2016 Olympics and Rio 2007 Pan American Games. He believes that PASO needs to be more "professional" and "united," with the help of all 41 NOCs.

"I think that for the athletes of America it is important that the Pan Americans be a strong, high performance games, and not the level we are now," Nuzman said. "We have some countries that do not bring the best athletes [to the Pan Am Games]."

Fixing the Pan American Games includes working with international federations to ensure that the Games get more Olympic qualifying spots, adding high level sponsorships, and making sure the 2019 Games are as organized as possible. Currently, the Lima 2019 Games face questions over the size of the sport programs and overall preparedness for the city.

Nuzman says if he were to be elected he would organize a commission of experts to examine the state of the Games, and get them back on track. He would not comment on the current state of the Games, saying he is not on the coordination commission, but said two years is plenty of time for necessary improvements.

"We will do a proper assessment to be done after the election and bring experts to work together especially the expert who worked with us during the Olympic Games in Rio," Nuzman said. "The Pan American Games are the Olympics for the smaller NOCs and this is very important to us and we have to understand the professional side."

The size of the 2019 Games is not up for debate for Nuzman unless experts brought in find that holding some events won't be feasible. When asked if the Games’ sport program needs to be downsized, Nuzman says PASO must "study the conditions that we have" in Lima before making a decision. All Olympic sports will stay in the Pan American Games program, as PASO has a duty to develop its Olympic athletes through qualification spots.

"Let me emphasize that more Olympic qualifiers is key to PASO for the future of the Olympic Games, this is one of the most important things that we need to work," Nuzman added. "Otherwise the Pan American Games will lose its stature and the NOCs that have money will go to participate in other competitions around the world. The athletes need strong competition and now we have this around the world."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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