AUG. 19, 2019

At La Moneda Palace, President Piñera feted the athletes who achieved Chile's best ever performance in the Pan American Games: “Behind every medal is all the effort, hard work and perseverance”

Team Chile has achieved its best ever performance in the Pan American Games, with 50 medals: 13 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze. Santiago is set to host this regional sports competition in 2023. This will be the first time the games have been held in Chile.

President Sebastián Piñera received athletes from Team Chile at La Moneda Palace on Monday. The sportspeople had represented Chile at the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games, achieving the highest ever number of medals.

“The Chilean people have enjoyed each and every medal as a personal triumph. Every gold medal has filled our hearts and souls with joy,” said the President in a ceremony in the Los Naranjos Patio.

The Chilean team had its best ever performance in the Pan American Games in Lima, with 50 medals: 13 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze. As a result, Chile ranked eighth in the medal standings, among the 41 countries that took part. This was its best medal ranking since 1979.

With this year's medal tally, the delegation has far surpassed its participation in the previous games, in Toronto in 2015, when the country obtained 29 medals: 5 gold, 6 silver and 18 bronze.

Chile’s previous Pan-Am records were in Buenos Aires in 1951, when it achieved 8 gold medals and in Guadalajara in 2011, when it got its highest medal tally of 43. Both these records were easily beaten by the delegation in Lima in 2019.

“I know that behind each and every one of these medals is the effort, commitment, training and perseverance that you have put in to be able to achieve this result,” the President added. He was accompanied at the event by First Lady Cecilia Morel, Sports Minister Pauline Kantor, the Governor of the Metropolitan Region, Karla Rubilar, and representatives of the different specialties of Team Chile.

At the closing ceremony, President Piñera received the Pan-Am Sports flag, because in 2023 the Pan American Games will take place in Santiago. This will be Chile’s first time hosting the games. It is estimated that investment totaling US$400 million will be needed to put on the games, most particularly in the infrastructure works for the National Stadium Sports Park and the Pan American Village.