Pan American Games 2015

Pan American Games 2015

This week in our neck of the woods, we’re gearing up for the kick-off of the 2015 Pan American (Pan Am) Games. With such a large event happening in our area, you can bet that many different people, cultures and languages will be introduced to the area. We’ll discuss the countries that are part of the Pan Am games, and the history of them as well.

The first official Pan American games were held in 1951 – almost two decades after members of the Olympic Congress (Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico) proposed a regional games for Central American counties. In the first Pan American games, there were more than 2,500 athletes from 22 countries. This year there approximately 42 countries participating in the Pan Am games from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. There are 48 sports being competed in.

Throughout the history of the games, the official languages of the Pan American games are Spanish and English – the two predominantly spoken languages amongst the competing countries. This is still the case today, and will be the languages sports and media is broadcast in. French is also included as it is an official language of Canada.

One of the events this year at the Pan American games is called PANAMANIA. This is an arts and culture program that aims to enrich the Pan Am games with traditions and festivities based on the cultures that are involved with the games.

We hope you have a chance to catch some of the live Pan American Games action!

 

References 

http://www.toronto2015.org/countries