The 2023 Parapan American Games, officially the VII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Santiago 2023 Parapan-Am Games, were an international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

for athletes with disabilities. It celebrated the tradition of the Parapan American Games as governed by the

Americas Paralympic Committee Americas Paralympic Committee (acronym: APC; ; ; ; ; ) is an international IPC regional committee which represents the current 33 National Paralympic Committees of the North American and South American continents. It is affiliated to/with the ...

and was held from 17 to 26 November 2023 in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Bidding process

Two bids were submitted for the 2023 Pan American Games.

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

both submitted bids. On February 1, 2017, the

Pan American Sports Organization Panam Sports, officially the Pan American Sports Organization (), is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the American continents. It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee ...

(now

Panam Sports Panam Sports, officially the Pan American Sports Organization (), is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the American continents. It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee ...

) announced the two cities as the official bids. Buenos Aires withdrew their bid in April 2017 due to not having the necessary finances or logistics to host this event and the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international multi-sport event, sports, cultural, and educational event held from 6 to 18 October 2018 ...

Host city election

Santiago was unanimously acclaimed as the host city at the

ANOC The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is an international organization that affiliates the current 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Every two years, it gathers all it ...

General Assembly in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

on November 4, 2017. This will mark the first time Chile hosts the Pan and Parapan American Games. Santiago was initially awarded the right to host the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and later

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas ...

, but withdrew as host both times due to financial and political problems. Most recently, Santiago was a candidate for the

2019 Parapan American Games The 2019 Parapan American Games (), officially the VI Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 ParaPan-Am Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Parapan Am ...

but lost to

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Development and preparation

Budget

The budget for the Games is $507 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

, with $170 million reserved for the building of ten new sporting venues and the upgrade of six arenas. The budget is about 36% of what was spent for the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada and 50% of the last Pan American Games in 2019, in

, Peru.

Venues

Various venues across Santiago and the metropolitan region will host the Games. In June 2022, organizers revealed the final plan consisting of 14 venues. And all venues are located in the Santiago area, some often will be used in an exclusive way at the Games.

Athletes Village

In December 2021, a ceremony was held to lay the first brick for the village. The village is expected to cost approximately $100 million

, and will consist of 1,345 apartments. After the games, the village will be converted to

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

. The village is being built in the Cerrillos Bicentennial Park community of Santiago.

Global Accessibility Innovations

In a groundbreaking move worldwide, the 2023 Parapan American Games introduced AI-generated audio diplomas for visually impaired and blind athletes. Utilizing a unique 50-second recording of Julio César Ávila, President of the

, artificial intelligence technology was employed to create personalized audio diplomas for over 500 athletes. This innovation not only enhanced the recognition of athletes' achievements but also set a new standard for inclusivity and accessibility in international sports events.

Sample Audio Diplomas

English Audio Diploma for Anthony Simon Ferraro

Spanish Audio Diploma for Analuz Pellitero
This initiative underscores the commitment of the Americas Paralympic Committee to leveraging cutting-edge technology to promote inclusivity and accessibility in sports.

The Games

Ceremonies

The opening ceremony was held on November 17, 2023, at the Estadio Nacional do Chile, while the closing ceremony was held on November 26, 2023, in Parapan-American Village, located in the

Parque Bicentenario The Bicentenario Park (Spanish: , literally "Bicentennial Park"), is one of the largest parks of the city of Santiago, Chile. The park was designed by the Chilean architect Teodoro Fernández after winning the official design competition in 1998 ...

de Cerrillos.

Opening ceremony

There were formal moments such as cultural presentations, a parade of delegations affiliated to

, welcome speeches by members of PanAm Sports and the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

, in addition to the inauguration of the Parapan-American cauldron. Among the musical performances, the following artists participated: Anita Tijoux, Beto Cuevas,

Denise Rosenthal Denise Sofía Rosenthal Schalchli (born 8 November 1990), known professionally as Denise Rosenthal is a Chilean singer and songwriter. Early life Rosenthal was born in Santiago, Chile. She has two brothers, one sister, and is the youngest of fo ...

, Flor de Rap, Kya, Movimento Original and Pablo Chill-E. Both Anita Tijoux and the group Movimiento Original have already performed at the opening of the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held on the night of November 26, 2023 in the ceremonial area of the Cerrillos Bicentennial Park, where the Pan-American Village was built. As the protocol determines, their cultural presentations, the parade of flags by members of

, thank-you and closing speeches by members of APC, the tributes and the thanks to the volunteers and the handover ceremony of the APC flag to the authorities of next host city, which until then would be the city of

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. containing also the presentation of figures about Colombian culture and the There was also a 15-minute cultural demonstration of Colombian culture and the ceremony ended with the cauldron extinction. Among the musical performances, the groups Santaferia, Banda Conmoción and Los Ramblers and the singers Princesa Alba and Gepe participated. However, this presentation and the passing of the flag became null and void on January 24, 2024, as a result of the revocation of the Colombian city's rights as host of the 2027 Pan and Parapan American Games. A few days later, on March 12 of the same year, Pan-Am Sports decided to hand over the Games to the Peruvian capital

Participating National Paralympic Committees

Thirty-one

National Paralympic Committee A National Paralympic Committee (NPC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Paralympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), NPCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the ...

s will participate at the Games. Grenada made their debut appearance at the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

. The Virgin Islands returned to participate after last competing in the 2015 edition. Suriname, which last participated in the 2019 edition, was absent.

Number of athletes by National Paralympic Committee

Sports

Following the rules of the Americas Paralympic Committee, in which a maximum of 17 sports can be part of the Games program. Thus, 378 finals were held in 16 Paralympic sports and one regional sport. Due to the recent record of their athletes, the organizers decided to replace sitting volleyball with archery. It is noted that this is the first time in history that the sport has been outside the Parapan American Games sporting program. The removal of the sport was also due to the fact that Chile does not have a national federation of the sport. Thus, the Pan-American Sports Federation held an extra edition of the Sitting Volleyball Pan American Championship was held between 9 and 13 May 2023 to define the representatives of the Americas at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

. *

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

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Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

() (114) *

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

() (16) *

Boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes w ...

() (11) *

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

() **

Road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

(16) ** Track (10) *

Football 5-a-side Football 5-a-side, more commonly known as blind football or blind soccer, is a variation of association football designed for players who are blind or visually impaired. It is currently a Paralympic sport, and the International Blind Sports A ...

() (1) *

Football 7-a-side Cerebral Palsy Football, also called ''7-a-side football'' or formerly ''Paralympic Football'', is an adaptation of association football for sportsperson, athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, including stroke and trauma ...

() (1) *

Goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a visual impairment, vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball with bells embedded inside it into the opponents' goal. The ball is throw ...

() (2) *

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

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Powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

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Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

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Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

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Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

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Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

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Wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

() (2) *

Wheelchair rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for Disabled sport, athletes with a disability. It is practiced in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic spor ...

() (1) *

Wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designe ...

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Calendar

Medal table

;Key

Marketing

The Games share most of its branding with the 2023 Pan American Games, including its emblem unveiled in July 2019, and its mascot Fiu—a many-colored rush tyrant—which was announced on October 16, 2021, following an online poll.

References

External links

Santiago 2023 Official SiteOfficial diplomas website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parapan American Games, 2023 2023 in disability sport 2023 in Chilean sport 2023 in multi-sport events 2020s in Santiago, Chile

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

International sports competitions hosted by Chile

Bidding process

Host city election

Development and preparation

Budget

Venues

Athletes Village

Global Accessibility Innovations

Sample Audio Diplomas

The Games

Ceremonies

Opening ceremony

Closing ceremony

Participating National Paralympic Committees

Number of athletes by National Paralympic Committee

Sports

Calendar

Medal table

Marketing

See also

References

External links