Doug Vandor of Montreal, Quebec has been named the Canadian chef de mission for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Vandor competed for Canada in men’s lightweight double sculls at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The 2019 Pan American Games will take place from July 26-August 11. There will be an estimated 6690 athletes from 41 nations participating.
Toronto was the last host of the Pan American Games in 2015. Canada came away with 219 medals (78 gold medals, 70 silver medals and 71 bronze medals). Only the United States at 265 medals, won more medals than Canada.
The 2019 Pan American Games is significant because it is an Olympic qualifier for many events leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Among the sports that are an Olympic qualifier for the Pan American Games include field hockey and water polo.
There will also be three new sports at the Pan American Games. They are bodybuilding, basque pelota and surfing. Skateboarding events has been added under the sport of roller sports, where it is joined by figure skating and speed skating. In roller figure skating and speed skating, athletes compete on rollerskates instead of figure skates and speed skates. Meanwhile, kata has been added within karate.
