Panam Sports Execs Focus on Lima Success

(ATR) The leaders of Panam Sports are leaving nothing to chance to ensure the success of the 18th Pan American Games in Lima.

The organization’s executive committee spent most of its time on Lima 2019 during its meeting on Tuesday, Panam Sports secretary general Ivar Sisniega tells Around the Rings.

"We spent almost two hours speaking with the Lima organizing committee on how we’re going to work and communicate together throughout the games," Sisniega told ATR shortly after the meeting had ended.

Lima 2019 is the first Pan Am Games under the leadership of Panam Sports president Neven Ilic, who is taking a more hands-on approach than before.

"The big change with Neven Ilic is he wants the whole executive board involved in the organization of the games and the supervision in getting out to all the venues and ensuring that things are working well," Sisniega explains.

"We want to make sure the games come off well, that the games run in a good fashion so that was a large part of the meeting."

Other topics for discussion at the meeting included a presentation from the Santiago 2023 organizers, who will host the next edition of the Pan Am Games, and a discussion of the upcoming athletes commission elections, which will be held during Lima 2019.

Sisniega tells ATR that better athlete representation is a focus for Panam Sports.

"We’ve lost a few members of the athletes commission so we’re going to replenish the athletes commission and get it going strong after these games. We’re going to reiterate at the general assembly to make sure the NOCs understand that we would like by the end of 2020 to have all the NOCs with an athletes commission and an athlete representative on the executive board."

The general assembly, which will be held on Thursday, will bring together the presidents and secretaries general of the 41 member nations of Panam Sports. IOC President Thomas Bach and the President of Peru Martin Vizcarra will be in attendance.

Before convening for their day-long session on Tuesday, the executive committee did something never done in the Olympic Movement. They stayed overnight at the Lima 2019 Pan American Village with athletes and Chefs de Mission.

From dinner and breakfast in the Dining Hall, to testing out the gymnasium and of course sleeping in the beds, the executives experienced living in the Village as the athletes do.

"We are very happy to have lived this experience," Ilic said. "My entire Executive Committee was able to live the experience of staying in this beautiful Pan American Village. Many of them have been Chefs de Mission, others were sleeping in the Village the same way more than 6,700 athletes will during the Games for the first time in their life."

The first competitions of the Games began on Wednesday morning with beach volleyball. The Opening Ceremony in Peru's National Stadium is on Friday evening.

Written and reported by Gerard Farek in Lima

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