The Pan American Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held among athletes from nations of the Americas, every four years in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. It's the oldest continental games in the world. The only Winter Pan American Games were held in 1990. In 2021, the Junior Pan American Games was held for the first time specifically for young athletes. The Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) is the governing body of the Pan American Games movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.
The 1955 Pan American Games opened on March 12, 1955, in the University Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico, in front of a capacity crowd of 100,000 spectators.
The 1963 Pan American Games were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil.
The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967.
The 1971 Pan American Games were held in Cali, Colombia, from July 30 to August 13, 1971. A total of 2,935 athletes from 32 countries participated in seventeen sports.
The 1983 Pan American Games were held in Caracas, Venezuela from August 14 to August 29, 1983. The games were the first major international competition to include relatively accurate steroid testing.
The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was the Estadio Panamericano, a multi-use stadium in Havana that holds 50,000 people.
Three cities submitted bids to host the 2015 Pan American Games and Parapan games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), all three of which made the PASO Executive Committee's shortlist. The games were awarded to Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 6, 2009. The other shortlisted cities were Lima, Peru and Bogota, Colombia. Toronto won an absolute majority of votes after just one round of voting, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds of voting. PASO delegates and the media identified a number of factors in its favor, including the size of the country, safety, experience in staging multi sporting events, government guarantees, security, and cleanliness. Moreover, the other two nations are not as developed, and with the troubles faced with the 2011 Pan American Games, Toronto was seen as the favourite. Mario Vazquez Rana, the president of the Pan American Sports Organization was also known to be favouring Toronto. Moreover, the head of Lima's bid Ricardo Mungi even admitted Toronto was the best choice as they had the facilities and budget to stage the games.
Four cities submitted bids to host the 2019 Pan American Games and Parapan games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), all four of which made the PASO Executive Committee's shortlist. PASO selected a host city for the 2019 Pan American Games at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto, Canada on October 11, 2013, which Lima won. The other shortlisted cities were Santiago, Chile, La Punta, Argentina, and Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.
PASO received two bids to host the 2023 Pan American Games and Parapan games from Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Later in the bidding process, Buenos Aires withdrew their bid, leaving Santiago as the sole bidder. Santiago was elected as the host city on November 4, 2017. PASO originally intended to hold the host city election in Lima, Peru which would also be the venue of the 55th PASO General Assembly, but moved the venue to Prague, Czech Republic, the venue of the 22nd ANOC General Assembly to allow Peru to focus on Pan American Games preparations.
The 2007 Parapan American Games, officially the III Parapan American Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, celebrated in the tradition of the Parapan American Games as governed by the Americas Paralympic Committee, held from August 12 to 19, 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Organized by the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee and the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB), it marked the first time that the Parapan American Games were staged in the same city and followed directly after the Pan American Games.
Three cities submitted bids to host the 1999 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization. The voting took place on July 31, 1994, in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Havana, Cuba was the only non-withdrawn bid to host the 1991 Pan American Games. At the Pan American Games Assembly, from November 12 to 14, 1986, in Bridgetown, Barbados, Mar del Plata withdrew its bid, leaving Havana as the winner to host the Games.
Two cities initially submitted bids to host the 1987 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization. On July 12, 1981, Santiago was selected over Quito by PASO to host the X Pan American Games after the first round of voting at its general assembly held in Caraballeda, Venezuela.
Three cities submitted bids to host the 1971 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization. On July 22, 1967, Cali was selected over Santiago and Champ, Missouri by PASO at its general assembly, held at the Manitoba Medical College in Winnipeg, Canada, to host the VI Pan American Games.
Two cities submitted bids to host the 1975 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization. On August 29, 1969, Santiago was selected unanimously over San Juan to host the VII Pan American Games by PASO at its 10th general assembly, held in Cali, Colombia.
Two cities submitted bids to host the 1979 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). However, Bolivia dropped out of the race, leaving San Juan as the only candidate city. On May 31, 1973, San Juan was selected to host the VIII Pan American Games by PASO at its general assembly in Santiago, Chile.
Three cities submitted bids to host the 1967 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). On April 22, 1963, Winnipeg was selected over Caracas and Santiago to host the V Pan American Games by the PASO at its general assembly in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
For the first time, two cities submitted bids to host the 1963 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). On August 25, 1959, São Paulo was selected over Winnipeg to host the IV Pan American Games by the PASO at the VII Pan American Sports Congress in Chicago, United States.
One city initially submitted a bid to host the 1959 Pan American Games that was recognized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), along with three cities that withdrew their bids. On March 11, 1955, at the IV Pan American Congress in Mexico City, PASO selected Cleveland unanimously to host the III Pan American Games.
