After a delay of just over six months, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bolivarian Games will make the city of Valledupar, in northern Colombia, shine with its Olympic fire between June 24 and July 5 . For around 3,300 athletes, belonging to 11 countries, the fairs mark the beginning of the Olympic cycle, which will conclude with the great event of sport in the French capital in 2024.
Valledupar, a city recognized for being the cradle of the vallenato musical genre, took on the challenge of holding a XIX edition of the Bolivarian Games that, from the beginning, presented various problems.
The Valledupar 2022 Bolivarian Games begin with fencing.
In the Country Club, the male Foil and female Sword modalities are developed. #JBV2022 pic.twitter.com/1XCFb6FjLi– Valledupar Bolivarian Games (@JBolivarianos22) June 23, 2022
Initially, this event was intended for the Valles del Tuy region, in the state of Miranda in central Venezuela, but they were transferred to Valledupar because that nation could not meet the financial requirements demanded by the organization. A situation that forced the Bolivarian Sports Organization (Odebo) to change its statutes, since a country cannot host the Games in consecutive years.
On the other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic, which in some Latin American countries lasted more than two years, forced the organization to modify the start date, a measure that now reduces the margin between the Bolivarian Games and other events of the Olympic cycle such as the South American Games, scheduled for October; the Central American and Caribbean Games (July 2023) and the Pan American Games to be held in Santiago, Chile, in October 2023.
These fairs, which are held every four years, are the materialization of an idea that emerged among the sports leaders of Colombia in 1936 to carry out sports games that would unite the countries liberated by Simón Bolívar. Its first edition would come two years later, when the first edition was held in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.
In Valledupar, and some other Colombian cities that will serve as sub-venues, there will be athletes from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Chile, which joined Odebo in 2010, who will compete with rivals from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic , Guatemala and Paraguay, nations invited to the fair.
Colombia, to consolidate its recent dominance
In each edition, a country fights to become the absolute winner by winning the most medals. That is why for Colombia, the country that has won the last two editions (Trujillo 2013 and Santa Marta 2017), the Games will serve to consolidate itself as a sports power in the area.
His victory in Trujillo, Peru, nine years ago, meant the breaking of the hegemony that until then had Venezuela winning 13 consecutive editions of the Bolivarian Games.
Upon arrival in Valledupar, the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COV), Ciro Solano, said that his country “will win the Games.”
Meanwhile, María Soto, new president of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV) and new vice president of Odebo, assured, prior to the departure of the Venezuelan representation, that her country “would come to the event with everything”, with a view to recovering the first place .
Meanwhile, nations such as Peru and Ecuador attend the event in order to improve their performance from previous years, while for Chile, Panama and the guests, the event will serve to warm up their talent with a view to future competitions.
Different optics, the same objective
The Bolivarian Games will mean for many the beginning of the end of a long, and sometimes very successful, career as athletes. For others, the moment to ratify and extend a great sporting moment to be in Paris 2024.
For Venezuela, the fencer Rubén Limardo announced that it will be his last Olympic cycle. In this sense, he went to the appointment in Valledupar without pressure and with his sights set on the Parisian games.
“I am enjoying myself to the fullest, for the first time he came to the Games without pressure,” declared the winner of the fencing gold medal for Venezuela in 2012 to France 24.
A similar case is the one presented with the Ecuadorian weightlifter Alexandra Escobar, who with 41 years in tow, will expose her dominance in the test.
Valledupar exhibits itself in the midst of difficulties
A fact that adds to the initial problems of the Games has to do with the non-completion of some works for the development of sports disciplines in the city. However, the organization trusts in the good development of the event.
“It is possible to give a part of tranquility. There are very few things that we have to adapt. We are going to have some good Games. We will be up to the task of all the Games,” said Ana Edume Camacho, director of the organization.
And, according to what was expressed by the authorities, the pandemic affected the proper development of the contracting processes to carry out the works. However, they assure that the facilities will be completed later.
It will be on July 5, when the curtain falls on the XIX edition of the Games, that the name of the nation that will reign in Bolivarian sport for the next few years will be known and also who will be the Latin American representation to follow in Paris 2024.
With EFE and Colombian media
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