Brazil ends Pan-2023 with its best participation – 11/06/2023 – Sports

Brazil finished the Pan American Games in Santiago in second place in the medals table. There were 205 won — 66 gold, 73 silver and 66 bronze.

The country achieved the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s (COB) objective of repeating second place in the classification — just as it had done in Lima, four years ago. In Peru, however, there were 171 medals in total (55 gold, 45 silver and 71 bronze). This year Brazil therefore won 34 more medals. It was the country’s best performance in the history of the Pans.

Some came completely unexpectedly, like silver in men’s baseball — Colombia took the gold, but, along the way, Brazil beat Cuba, a powerhouse in the sport.

Brazil also won bronze in the Basque pelota, a sport completely unknown here, with an athlete who had never set foot in the country. Filipe Otheguy was born in the French Basque Country, but has a Brazilian mother.

In addition to the surprise in baseball, the country had good performance in other team sports — gold in men’s football (for the first time since 1987), men’s volleyball, basketball and women’s handball; silver in men’s handball, women’s volleyball and men’s water polo; bronze in men’s basketball, women’s rugby and women’s water polo.

In rhythmic gymnastics, Brazil came out on top. He reached the top of the podium in all eight categories. Bárbara Domingos was the athlete who won the most medals at the Pan — three golds (all-around, ball and ribbon) and two silvers (clubs and bow).

“We dedicated ourselves a lot to be here. This result is ours! We focused a lot on this competition right after the world championship, so I believe that these results are the result of a lot of work and dedication. And it also served to close the year with a flourish, because it was the last competition of the year and that’s why I gave all my strength”, she told COB.

In sports as a whole, Brazil stood out in swimming (27 medals, together with the aquatic marathon), athletics (23 medals) and judo (16), among others. In table tennis, Hugo Calderano won gold in the singles competition and Brazil was also the men’s team champion.

In addition to the competitions themselves, the Pan American Games qualify athletes for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 — such as tennis player Laura Pigossi, gold in Santiago, and the women’s handball team, for example.

The edition also saw farewell to some athletes, such as Isaquías Queiroz, from canoeing, who won silver in Santiago, and boxer Bia Ferreira, who won gold.

Paulo Roberto Conde, director of the COB, celebrated the result for the country as a whole, but regretted that the games were not broadcast on TV in Brazil.

“For us, it would be good to be on open and closed TV. It’s a question we don’t want to remain silent and we hope it will be answered in the 2027 edition. Not being present on the big cannon of open TV is a problem,” he said.

He highlighted that the impact has been great since the Rio Pan, in 2007, when Globo stopped broadcasting the competition. “When you lose the biggest broadcaster in the country it’s a huge problem,” he adds. The 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions were shown on Record, which would repeat the dose in 2023. But Edir Macedo’s TV broke the US$10 million contract (R$49.7 million at current prices) that it paid.

The games were broadcast on CazéTV, owned by influencer Casimiro Miguel, on YouTube, and on the Brazilian Olympic Channel, on the same platform.