Pan American Games 2019

[vinipereira 3,513]

Apparently Racquetball matches take forever

 

[thiago_simoes 1,458]

Gold for Bolivia. Finally!  

[intoronto 6,904]

4 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

“The initial discussion of the executive board was to be selective, make sure those sports that are non-Olympic have to earn their spot in the Games and we have a basic rule which is you have to have at least 20 Olympic committees of our 41 that have a recognized federation, a working federation.”

 

Bye, Bye Water Ski  (Except that Chile is quite good and will probably choose to save it)

 

In my opinion, based off that article, Squash is in serious danger (rightfully), Bodybuilding is all but gone, and it will tight to figure out which other sport they drop (rumors have been circulated that Bowling and Basque Pelota are on the chopping block)

 

Why would squash be in danger? Chile is not that bad in the sport?

[intoronto 6,904]

Just now, vinipereira said:

Apparently Racquetball matches take forever

 

I dont get why. Toronto 2015 saw them go quickly, they must have had a rule change since then

[vinipereira 3,513]

And it's gold for Bolivia

 

[intoronto 6,904]

Canada up to its 60th silver now...

[NearPup 4,183]

Just now, thiago_simoes said:

Yes, I don't have a perfectly objective explanation to drop it, but I still believe the recent results at the Pan Ams hardly justify its presence in the program, in my opinion: Canada won 7 out of 8 possible gold medals since 2007, and in 1955 and 1959 the US won both gold medals (and the remaining gold medal Canada didn't win in 2007). There's just no variety among winners. Even rhythmic gymnastics has had more variety among nations that have earned at least one gold medal (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Mexico and the US in 9 editions) while in trampoline we've had two nations (Canada and the US) earning the gold medal in 6 editions.

Sure, but those are nations that actually win medals and qualify for finals at the Olympics. Across ten individual finals in Trampoline since it got added to the Olympics an American country made a finals eight times. An American country hasn't made an individual finals in Rhythmic Gymnastics in a non-boycotted Olympics, ever, and has never finished higher than seventh in group all around.

[Olympian1010 8,301]

2 minutes ago, intoronto said:

 

Why would squash be in danger? Chile is not that bad in the sport?

Squash in my opinion has the least amount of ties to the Pan American region. The other sports all have elite top level athletes from Pan Am countries. Squash leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. However, I also think that it is a great sport.

[thiago_simoes 1,458]

29 minutes ago, NearPup said:

Sure, but those are nations that actually win medals and qualify for finals at the Olympics. Across ten individual finals in Trampoline since it got added to the Olympics an American country made a finals eight times. An American country hasn't made an individual finals in Rhythmic Gymnastics in a non-boycotted Olympics, ever, and has never finished higher than seventh in group all around.

 

This opens up an interesting discussion: what's the point of adding a sport to the program of the Pan Am Games? 

In rhythmic gymnastics, Brazil has benefited greatly from the experience at the Pan Ams and has managed to qualify a group for many editions of the Olympics since 2000. Canada, the United States and quite possibly Mexico (in 2020) also managed to do so (or, in the case of Mexico, is expected to do so). The US almost qualified for an individual final in 2016 and is expected to do so in 2020.

What countries benefited from the experience at the Pan Ams in trampoline other than Canada and the US? None. Brazil, Mexico and Colombia won medals at the Pan Ams, but they are not even close to reaching a final at the World Championships (in individual trampoline) or the Olympics. Venezuela also won a medal in trampoline in 1955, but they never reached the finals at the World Championships (but to be fair the first WC in trampoline only happened in 1964). Argentina won a medal in tumbling in 1955 but never qualified for the tumbling finals at the World Championships (again, to be fair, tumbling was part of acrobatic gymnastics at the time and only had the first World Championships in 1974).
 

Edited August 11, 2019 by thiago_simoes

[mrv86 3,265]

Mexico gets its 8th consecutive medal in men's football... this time a bronze.