In Paraguay, more than 4,000 athletes will meet who will seek to take a good first step on the path that leads to Paris 2024. From October 1 to 15, South American athletes will animate competitions in 53 disciplines.
Colombia starts as the favorite in the current South American Games, after having been the winner of the last edition held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2018. On that occasion, the Colombian delegation led the global classification with 239 medals won: 94 gold, 74 silver and 71 bronze.
In the same event, Brazil ranked second in the general medal table with 204 medals (90 gold, 58 silver and 56 bronze) and Venezuela completed the podium with 157 medals, 43 gold, 59 silver and 55 bronze.
The challenge for these countries now is to equal or improve the statistics they left four years ago, but countries like Argentina and Chile also seek to be protagonists. In addition, factors such as the pandemic and the delay of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will have an impact on the performance of many athletes, not to mention that many have been injured or have retired.
Sports, scenarios and medal table
In total, there will be competition in 53 disciplines, of which 40 are Olympic sports and will start to show the way towards Paris 2024: open water, artistic and racing swimming, diving, water polo, athletics, badminton, basketball (conventional and 3×3). , handball, boxing, canoeing (slalom and speed), BMX (Freestyle and Racing), mountain and track cycling, equestrian, fencing, soccer, artistic, rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics, golf, hockey, judo, weightlifting, wrestling, rowing, rugby, skateboarding, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, archery, shooting sports, triathlon, sailing, volleyball and beach volleyball.
In addition, Asunción will receive 13 sports that, although they are not Olympic, will have an impact on the medal table: chess, bowls, bowling, water skiing, bodybuilding, figure skating, speed skating, paddle tennis, karate, squash, beach soccer, futsal.
There will be two large venues or multi-sport complexes where almost 80% of the competitions will take place: the Olympic Park and the National Sports Secretariat.
Skating, cycling, hockey, shooting sports, BMX Racing and the skateboarding park will be concentrated in the Olympic Park, while weightlifting, karate, boxing, volleyball, handball, and taekwondo will be in the National Sports Secretariat.
Swimming, with a total of 56 medals, is the sport in which the most medals will be up for grabs, followed by athletics, which will award 49. Whoever manages to dominate these two disciplines will surely find a place on the podium.
The big favorites in Asunción
Brazil will seek to take the first place in the medal table in this edition of the South American Games with great protagonists and Olympic stars. In open water, Ana Marcela Cunha, gold in Tokyo 2020 and recent champion in Budapest 2022, is one of the Brazilian pillars, favorites to take most of the medals in aquatic disciplines. In shooting, beach volleyball, boxing and sprint canoeing they also hope to strike.
Colombia wants to ratify its favoritism with a large list of athletes, with skating as one of its strengths, a discipline in which it dominates worldwide. The other highlights are the return of Jossimar Calvo to gymnastics and the participation in BMX of the Olympic champion Mariana Pajón and Diego Arboleda, who performed well. A sensitive absence will be that of Isabella Arcila, swimmer who delivered the most medals in 2018.
Argentina comes with giant steps in team sports and will want to continue winning medals in rugby and hockey after a great step in Tokyo 2020.
Venezuela, which was third four years ago, has an arduous task to maintain that average. After what was seen in the Bolivarian Games, Alberto Mestre will be one of the hopes of this delegation in swimming.
In total there will be 15 delegations competing in Asunción 2022: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The activity began on Saturday, October 1 with skateboarding and a colorful opening ceremony that highlighted Paraguayan culture, while this Sunday, October 2, 16 other disciplines come into action.
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