“Lima 2027, a safe option”: what was experienced in the vote and the reasons why America continues to have it as the sports capital

The emotion of winning goes beyond the moment in which the name of Lima as the chosen venue for the 2027 Pan American Games comes out, the joy of hosting the mega-event again is double because it is the opportunity to once again generate those spaces that the sport deserves. and that in our country takes a backseat to the thousands of daily political and social problems.

Lima 2027 will run from today until two and a half years from now and represents the challenge of surpassing what was done five years ago with the “Biggest Games in History.” The objective is that and that is what the Peruvian representatives assumed.

The Panam Sports delegation drew a lot of attention to how Lima kept its infrastructure in good condition and fully operational and this was seen by the Evaluation Committee. And that’s how the voters understood it. There were 28 votes that gave the headquarters to the Peruvian capital among the 52 possible. Tight, but victory in the end.

And if there are pillars on which success is based, the main one is that there is an entity like Legado that took care of each of the venues left by Lima 2019. Outside of the sports system (it is attached to PCM), it prevented the works from being in oblivion and today it protects them and delivers them to high performance and the population in general.

Panam Sports highly valued the conviction with which the Peruvian authorities presented themselves -beyond the weak presentation of Mayor Rafael López Aliaga-. The union of executive, legislative and municipality generated the necessary trust for the member countries to decide on Lima.

“Lima represents a safe option, not only because of human capital, but also because it is a government policy sustained over time,” said Renzo Manyari, president of the Peruvian Olympic Committee in his presentation to Panam Sports.

And there are 369,152,896 dollars that will be invested (more than 50 thousand compared to Asunción) for the operational part and completing some works such as a rowing court. The government of Dina Boluarte, despite the fact that it ends in 2026, guaranteed that “Lima 2027 will not lack anything”, while the Municipality reported a package of 1.3 billion dollars invested in road works: avenues, viaducts, bridges, etc.

Human material is also important. Many of the Lima 2019 managers still remain in the sports system, which guarantees that there is the same and better level of organization for an event of this magnitude. That is why the presence of Carlos Neuhaus as part of the delegation is welcomed. He led Lima 2019 and to this day receives praise for that work.

And from Lima, Carlos Zegarra, director of the Legado project, celebrated with a big hug with his collaborators. The Olympic judoka took charge of this institution that will now be in charge of managing not only what Lima 2019 left behind, but also the different sports venues that exist in the country and, also, will be the one who has to prepare a kind of catalog of works for that infrastructure that is alien to reality and that cannot be maintained is no longer built.

The pleasant surprise was the presence of Eduardo Romay, as he himself said, an athlete who does not appeal to the medal to make his position felt. A sport like men’s volleyball that seeks its space is also the example to follow and as the athlete himself said, the emotion of his family seeing him “with the shield on his chest and a surname on his back” playing at home is enormous.

That is the progress that the sport hopes for and that the Pan American Games promote. Lima 2027 is already a reality and we should not think that everything is done. There is still work ahead.

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