Peru to Host 2027 Pan Am Games

Lima, Peru, will host the 2027 Pan Am Games after winning a vote against Asuncion, Paraguay, on Tuesday.

The Peruvian capital was chosen with 28 votes by the 41 member countries of Panam Sports after the official presentations of the candidate cities were made. Presentations featured videos and messages from government leaders before they submitted to questions from the participating member countries.

A host for the 2027 Pan Am Games was needed to be found after Panam Sports’ announcement that Barranquilla, Colombia, had been withdrawn by the executive committee. Panam Sports said the decision was made “following several breaches of the Host City Contract.”

The multi-sport event on the continent returns to Peruvian lands in 2027, having been hosted there before in 2019.

“We are happy about this triumph,” Peru Olympic Committee President Renzo Manyari said. “We will work to make everyone’s experience the best they have ever had and they have the absolute devotion of more than 33 million Peruvians.”

The 2023 Pan American Games in Chile featured 6,800 athletes from 41 countries, including 631 athletes from the United States. The Games are one of the biggest non-Olympic events for the national governing body movement, giving some NGBs the chance to have a dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.

The Pan Am Games is held among athletes from nations of the Americas every four years in the year before the Olympic Summer Games. The United States last hosted in 1987 in Indianapolis; the U.S. has won the medal count at every Pan Am Games except the inaugural event in 1951 in Argentina and the 1991 event in Havana.

“A few years ago, they shook an entire continent with excitement and today, with more experience and spectacular infrastructure, they want to repeat or improve the success achieved in 2019,” said Panam Sports President Neven Ilic. “I also take this opportunity to congratulate Paraguay and its NOC President Camilo Perez. They are doing a great job with Paraguayan sport and their athletes, so my call is for them to continue growing and developing.”