Mario Vázquez Raña, president of the regional continental Olympic body, the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) presided over an Executive Board Meeting which was held from Sunday, July 14 – 16 at the Hilton Barbados Resort.
President of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc. (BOA), Steve Stoute said that the BOA had been eagerly anticipating this meeting, which served to bring Barbados to the attention of the Organisation.
All 42 National Organizing Committees/countries that comprise the PASO were expected to attend the two-day meeting. The meeting was expected to be an important catalyst in determining which city would have the honour of hosting the quadrennial Pan American Games.
The cities vying for the hosting honors are Santiago Chile, Bolivar Venezuela, La Punta Argentina, and Lima Peru. Each country had the opportunity to present their bid. The vote to decide who will host the 2019 Pan Am Games will take place at PASO’s next General Assembly scheduled for October 2013 in the city of Toronto – host of the 2015 edition of the Pan American Games.
The TORONTO Games, which start October 10, 2015, will involve more than 8,400 athletes, coaches and team officials from 42 nations in the Americas and Caribbean competing in 36 sports. More than half of the Olympic sport competitions will be qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
A delegation from Canada was also be at the meeting giving an account of that country’s plans for the 2015 games.