Lima 2019

[Ikarus360]

[2018]

So far okay. 

[Roger87]

The MVP of the spectacle hands down

 

[Ikarus360]

Cecilia Tait, captain of the women volley team which won the Silver in Seoul 1988, lit the cauldron.

[rio2016man]

I'm not a fan of Luis Fonsi but I think his presentation was good

[Tatsh]

After watching the oC i can say first the pros:

Almost any video during the ceremony, because if i want to watch an event like this, i want see it all on the stage. Lot of videos since Sochi 2014 were getting a cancer, and after this, i hope show organizers use videos just a few times.

Although the mountain stage was a good support, there wasn't any too much use of projectors as Rio 2016.

Light and sound decent, and the clothing with live colours.

The cons:

The stage was small, not as guadalajara, but the TV broadcast had to get closet lot of times.

Luis fonsi.

In general i put 7.5-8/10

 

 

[Tatsh]

Notes:

I loved the tributes to Yma Sumac and Chabuca Granda.

I wanted to see the countdown on the screan but no on the stage.

[panamfan]

On 7/25/2019 at 11:22 PM, Quaker2001 said:

Gonna be honest.. I literally had absolutely no idea the Pan Am games were going on until I came across an ad.  Wasn't even sure if ESPN was covering it and neither of the 2 press releases give much in the way of a schedule.  Shows where this event falls on the spectrum of importance in the United States.  May check out some of it tomorrow, but I'll be spending most of my Olympic sports viewing this weekend on NBC with the Tour de France and the FINA World Championships.

 

7 hours ago, BTHarner said:

There was absolutely no promotion on any of ESPN's English-speaking outlets and that is indicative of where the event ranks on the sporting hierarchy. Many friends my age remember them from the 70s and 80s (before the international sports calendar got glutted with more frequent and lucrative World Championships and the like) when CBS would broadcast the Games, but had assumed that they no longer existed because there was no English coverage from 1995-2003 and just snippets since. The amount of coverage on ESPNU is just fortunate timing since they have a lot of time to fill during the down period in the college athletic calendar. 

Ironic that you had no idea about the Pan Ams, I was the same way about the Tour de France, I was totally oblivious to it until I saw the headlines about today's stage being shortened by hail.

It always burns me up that US television does not promote the Pan Am Games at all. They spend zilch on adverstising and then whine that the ratings are 0.1. Well, Duh! People can't watch if they don't know to tune in. ESPN waited until 2 days before the coverage started to announce their plans. Hard to build interest that way. CBS carried the games in the 70's and 80's mainly to try to get the rights to the Olympics. Once CBS got the winter games they dropped the Pan Ams. ABC took over in 1991 because they were shut out of the Olympics after Calgary. By 1995, ABC was on its way out of the sports business and the games were held in March, so CBS and NBC were preoccupied with Basketball. The USOC arranged for an hour a night of coverage produced by SportsSouth and syndicated across Prime Sports regional sports channels, but the broadcasts often aired at odd times and most people were not even aware of the games. I was away in college and didn't even know about the coverage until long after the games were over. ESPN has had the rights since 1999 but did little or none in English until 2015. The networks also claim that people wont watch when the top U.S. athletes are not taking part due to schedule conflicts.

I first became aware of the Pan Am Games by watching CBS coverage of the 1987 Indianapolis Games. That's why I chose the 1987 logo for my screen name's graphic. It was my frustration at the lack of coverage in 1999 and 2003 that led me to start my now defunct website - The Pan American Games Fan Pages - to try to boost interest in the games. Through those efforts I became an even bigger fan.

As far as the tonight's opening ceremony, I watched on ESPNU. I would say it was better than Toronto. There was much more room for the production numbers and it was easier to see what was happening. I thought the arrangement used of the Pan American Anthem sucked - Toronto's arrangement was much better.  The "cauldron" was a bit underwhelming - but not as dorky as Rio's in 2016. ESPNU's coverage was a bit choppy at first with oddly placed and abrupt commercial interruptions, but they redeemed themselves by going commercial-free for the entire protocol segment - even during the speeches and oaths. This surprised and pleased me, because NBC would NEVER show any speeches not in English and definitely not the oaths. Its also been a little weird these first three days getting use to the fact that ESPN does not have a studio host. All-in-all I enjoyed the ceremony and look forward to watching the competitions over the next 17 days.

 

[BTHarner]

Still have to watch the rest of the ceremony after the parade of athletes. Decided to be a nice husband and go with my wife to a concert and returned home late and watched on the DVR through the end of the parade. I think my initial impressions might be clouded from fatigue and crankiness so I'll need to take the time to watch it again at a better time.

[Nacre]

16 hours ago, panamfan said:

It always burns me up that US television does not promote the Pan Am Games at all. They spend zilch on adverstising and then whine that the ratings are 0.1. Well, Duh! People can't watch if they don't know to tune in. ESPN waited until 2 days before the coverage started to announce their plans. Hard to build interest that way.

1) I agree.

2) The Pan-American Games are great in part precisely because they are not a massive television spectacle and corporate investment opportunity.

There isn't enough money in the event for massive amounts of money to be thrown around, so the sporting federations are forced to settle for facilities that make sense for local communities. That's exactly what they should be doing anyway. I would never want Seattle to host the Olympics but rebuilding West Seattle Stadium, the King County Aquatics Center, the equestrian arenas at Bridle Trails State Park, the Jerry Baker Velodrome, et al to Pan-American Games standards would be a fine use of public money that would provide upgraded facilities for the amateur athletes of the Seattle area. Just like Toronto built sub-Olympic facilities for their 2015 games that are nonetheless great for Canadian athletes to use in training.

The Pan-Ams don't attract throngs of international tourists or television viewers. They only really matter to the people living in the host city, the athletes and their families, and dedicated fans of the sports in question. And those are the people who should really matter. 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Nacre

[Brekkie Boy]

The cauldron looks like a poor imitation of the 2016 version.   Not a fan of these small cauldrons at all though understand the environmental reasons behind it.  Has to surely be a compromise solution though - and in the grand scheme of things I suspect the cauldrons impact on the environment is negligible compared to all the people flying in and all the waste they generate.

[Briangames]

Anyone know why the Olympic flag was missing?  When the Pan Am Sports flag came out there were two sets of escorts around it.  There was an announcement that the Olympic anthem would be played but it wasn't.  The Opening Ceremony Media Guide mentioned it should have been there.  I'm wondering if there was some last minute issue??  

[BTHarner]

The entire commentator-free ceremony is up on the Pan Am Sports Channel.

The app is also now up, but only in Spanish and only on Android devices.

 

[neneu10]

Medal table Day 3

 

[Nacholympic]

My comment about the Pan Am Opening Ceremony:
-    For me, the best ceremony so far in this year. (The Opening of the AFCON 2019 was pretty cool, too) It is very hard another one to surpasses it, so, I think we have seen already the best ceremony of this year 2019. And not only of this year, Lima took back all that glamour and dazzling spirit of an Opening Ceremony which was so down in the dump the latest months (getting the minimum point at Universiade in Napoli, one of the worst ceremonies ever in the latest months along Cocha) The ceremony was simply amazing: coordination were precise, the timing of the segments were perfect for all of them: not so long, not so short so you never got bored, fast, colorful, moving…  it was the best demonstration of how to create an good  live TV show . Even so much better that what I saw in Gold Coast last year, when, at that time, I thought it was the best demonstration of how to make an excellent show with a non-big budget… But Lima 2019 was a master on it. I don’t know if you agree, but Balich and Lima organizers used the time so much better than how they used it even in the Olympic ceremony in Rio. And now I realized that Rio could have done something a lot better with their time available… As Lima did: no seconds wasted…. ANY OF THEM! (a strong contrast with Rio’s) It was a perfect travel to their culture and folk, till the point you get moved by them. So innovative was the “pixels esthetics” of the full ceremony (the ground cover gave us an idea of it) which transformed all the ceremony in a “virtual journey” through Peru…  JUST PERFECT!!!!
It’s a hard task that Santiago 2023 has to face: to top the best Opening Ceremony for a Pan Am Games ever!
Lima not only gave us that, but a true lesson, a guideline of how to use the resources available in the best way possible, not using technology as the unique background, but the culture and its people. From now on, ceremonies of regional sports events, has a lot to follow of it…

[Nacholympic]

 

  In relation to the cauldron: I full understand that current times do not allow to spend large amounts of money and environmental resources I a big and (many times) useless cauldron. Let’s remember it’s just a symbol of the games, not the core of them, and still hosts are in debt on this point. What about about having a great cauldron inside the stadium just for both ceremonies and a little one in a public space? (as Rio did) Anyway, doing this is still a waste of money and resources… so, how can hosts put up with his during the next editions? … Maybe something innovative, cheap, clean and entertaining, but not a bad joke and even a lack of respect as Napoli did with that ridiculous fairground cauldron… Lima continues the tendencies of “solar cauldron” as Rio’s cauldrons (2007 and 2016) but I don’t take it as a copy of them, since it perfectly follows the Inca esthetics of the full ceremony … Nevertheless, it was too small and, because of it, the ceremony was lack of that “C major” to get the perfection in emotions…  Anyway, Lima 2019 was crowned as the best opening Ceremony for a Pan Am Games ever.

[neneu10]

Day 9

 

[Nacholympic]

You can downloafd the full program of the closing ceremony on Lima 2019 website.

SPOILER ALERT!

The handover of Santiago 2023 will be like this:

- It starts with projections on the stage, along the Chilean anthem showing differents Chilean landscapes. (along the lyrics of the anthem)

-  Santiago map is projected on the floor, and then a Volcano explodes and dancers make their performances at urban styles leading by Power Peralta pop-dance duo.

- Lights come down and on the stage starts to sing Francisca Valenzuela, a very popular Chilean pop singer. 

- All the staff of the handover reunites in a tradiitional Santiago square saying thank you to Lima and welcoming to Santiago 2023.

 

[neneu10]

Final medal table 

[Ikarus360]

Very nice closing ceremony, I even liked some parts more than the actual opening, specially the dances of each region of Peru.

Now the speeches come and then, the handover to Santiago 2023.

[2018]

These were an okay games.

The very good part: the look

the not so good: ticket sales (half of Toronto), weather, empty seats etc.

[Ikarus360]

Yikes. Very awful handover. What the hell, Chile. The only good part was the anthem.

Even Birmigham had a better handover than this atrocity.

[2018]

1 hour ago, Ikarus360 said:

Yikes. Very awful handover. What the hell, Chile. The only good part was the anthem.

Even Birmigham had a better handover than this atrocity.

Probably better than Toronto 2015 (I have yet too see it). Do you agree?

[BTHarner]

That was a fun few weeks. I had serious doubts a few years back about how this was going to turn out. After all, they seemed more concerned about the mascot than the venues. It all turned out fine in the end and I commend those who made it possible.

[Ikarus360]

4 hours ago, 2018 said:

Probably better than Toronto 2015 (I have yet too see it). Do you agree?

Hell no. Toronto handover while a bit boring was better than this. Most chileans online seem embarassed. Barely any display of culture and just a glorified concert of hip hop music by the Power Peralta bros.

You can watch the closing here.