XIII Pan American Games

Host	Winnipeg, Canada
Motto	Americas' Fest
Nations	42
Athletes	5,083
Events	330 in 34sports
Opening	July 23
Closing	August 8
Opened by	Governor GeneralRoméo LeBlanc
Cauldron lighter	Alwyn Morris Silken Laumann
Main venue	Winnipeg Stadium
← 1995 Mar del Plata 2003 Santo Domingo →

The1999 Pan American Games, officially theXIII Pan American Games (French:XIII Jeux panaméricains) or the 13thPan American Games and commonly known asWinnipeg 1999, were a major internationalmulti-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, inWinnipeg,Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and cities. Canoeing competitions started the day before the games officially began. Approximately 5,000 athletes from 42 nations participated in the games to vie for a total of 330 medal events in 34 sports and 42 disciplines.^[1]

Financially, the 1999 games were a success, generating a surplus of $8.9 million^[2][3] through a combination of fiscal restraint^[4] and the contribution of nearly 20,000 volunteers.^[5]

The 1999 Pan American Games were the secondPan American Games hosted by Canada and Winnipeg.^[2] Previously, Winnipeg hosted the1967 Pan American Games.^[2]

Winnipeg beat bothSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic, andBogotá, Colombia in 1994 to win hosting rights for the event.^[6]

In 1988, a delegation from Winnipeg announced that once it got approval from theCanadian Olympic Association, the city would submit a bid to host the 1999 Pan American Games. On December 5, 1992, Winnipeg secured the Canadian bidding rights, defeatingToronto by one vote. Other Canadian cities in the running wereHalifax,Edmonton, andSherbrooke.^[7][8] Toronto would later go on to host the2015 Pan American Games, 16 years later.^[9]

Any country that had previously held the games was allotted two votes; those countries were Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States, and Venezuela, making 50 votes in total, and a city needed a majority vote (26) to win. Canada and Colombia were not allowed to vote, as they each had a city making a bid.^[10]

After the first round of voting, Bogotá was eliminated having the fewest voting with 10 votes. In the second round, Winnipeg and Santo Domingo reached a 25-to-25 tie. Canadian Bidding Committee Co-Chairman Don Mackenzie managed to convince delegates from three National Olympic Committees to change their votes before the tiebreaker round, focusing on the fact that "Santo Domingo had no place for water-skiing, butPortage la Prairie has one of the best water-skiing facilities in Canada." Winnipeg went on to defeat Santo Domingo by a vote of 28 to 22.^[11] Santo Domingo later won the rights to the next games in 2003.^[11]

1999 Pan American Games bidding results

City	NOC	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Winnipeg	Canada	22	25	28
Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	18	25	22
Bogotá	Colombia	10	—	—

A total of 32 sporting venues were used for the games. ThePan Am Pool, built for the 1967 games, featured in the 1999 games for all aquatic events. The venue underwent a $3.3 million renovation for the games.^[12] Other new venues included the $8.7 millionInvestors Group Athletic Centre built for multiple sports and the $12 millionCanWest Global Park for the baseball competition.^[12]

The main stadium for the games was theWinnipeg Stadium, which staged the ceremonies and the beach volleyball competitions.^[13]

A portion of the Pan American Games Society (PANAM'99) budget supported the refurbishment ofUniversity of Manitoba residences to serve as the Athletes Village, the upgrade of various sports and training facilities including the Pan Am Stadium (University Stadium), which had hosted events of the 1967 games.^[14]

TheWinnipeg Velodrome, also built for the 1967 games, had become obsolete and disused for cycling and so was demolished prior to the 1999 games. The cycling venue was a temporary facility atRed River Exhibition Park.

The opening ceremony of the 1999 Pan American Games took place on Friday July 23, 1999, beginning at 19:30 p.m. CDT and lasted for two hours and forty-five minutes at theWinnipeg Stadium.^[15] A crowd of 30,000 spectators attended the ceremony.^[15] SevenAboriginal Canadians, who were denied entrance into the1967 Pan American Games, also in Winnipeg, this time entered the stadium with the torch while oncanoes.^[15] Former OlympiansAlwyn Morris andSilken Laumann were the final two torchbearers who lit the cauldron.^[16] A total of 3,400 performers took part in the ceremony, including theWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra and singerJeremy Kushnier.^[15] SingerChantal Kreviazuk sang the national anthem,O Canada as part of the ceremony.^[17]Governor GeneralRoméo LeBlanc officially opened the games.^[15] One of the dignitaries in attendance wasAnne, Princess Royal.^[18]

All 42 nations ofPASO competed.

330 events in 34 sports were contested. Beach volleyball and inline hockey made itsPan American Games debut.^[20] While women's tournaments in football, and water polo were held for the first time.^[21][22][23]

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.

• Weightlifting – 77 kilogram clean & jerk – 202.5 kilograms hoisted byIdalberto Aranda (Cuba)

Perhaps the greatest drug scandal in the sport oftrack and field, sinceBen Johnson's disqualification at the1988 Summer Olympics, occurred here whenJavier Sotomayor the current high jump world record holder tested positive forcocaine. A Cuban national hero, his subsequent suspension was fought from the highest levels, withFidel Castro claiming it was an anti-Cuba conspiracy staged by the United States.^[24] Despite a second positive test for cocaine a few months later, Sotomayor eventually had his suspension reduced by a year,^[25] just in time to win the silver medal at the2000 Summer Olympics. A year later he retired, when he faced another positive drug test.^[26]

Canada was stripped of its gold medal for inline hockey when the team's goaltender Steve Vézina tested positive for multiple banned substances.^[1]

To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	106	109	80	295
2	Cuba	70	40	47	157
3	Canada1	64	52	80	196
4	Brazil	25	32	44	101
5	Argentina	25	19	28	72

The 1999 Games' mascot features two birds namedPato (Wood duck) andLorita (Parrot).^[27]

Television broadcasts of the games were produced byPaul Graham.^[28]

The 1999 Pan Am games have been "seen by many Winnipeggers as a chance to put their city squarely in the international spotlight".^[29] Winnipeg mayorGlen Murray became nationally well known as a result of the Games and thanks to extensive coverage by theCBC, anchored by CBC Sports'Brian Williams. However, the Games themselves only had mixed success, as the Pan Am Games ranked below the Olympics and Commonwealth Games in international prestige. The Games cost $129 million CDN and finished with a financial surplus of $8.8 million CDN.

Hosts Canada celebrated its medal haul, which was the second best after the United States. However, some considered Canada's results overrated, since the U.S. amassed the most medals with a mostly second-string team while Canada and Cuba had fielded their top national athletes. Cuba also managed more golds than Canada, despite having a smaller roster.^[29]

Frequent comparisons were made to the 1967 Pan Am Games, also hosted by Winnipeg, where the United States had fielded many rising stars, such asMark Spitz. By comparison, the Americans had sent their "B" team to the 1999 Games. No major U.S. networks covered the Pan Am Games, except for the Spanish-language networkUnivisión, while newspapers only sent second-string reporters instead and the stories never made front page news.^[29] Many high-profile athletes, of all nationalities, such as U.S. champion sprinters and Brazilian football players, were in Europe during these Pan Am games, taking part in professional events. South American nations (with the exception of Uruguay) did not send their under-23 male soccer teams after the organizing committee refused to pay appearance money toCONMEBOL.^[30]

In 1999, theParapan American Games were not hosted in Winnipeg, but rather inMexico City. The inaugural event involved 1,000 athletes from 18 countries competing in four sports.

• Winnipeg 1999 - XIII Pan American Games - Official Report (Part 1) at PanamSports.org
• Winnipeg 1999 - XIII Pan American Games - Official Report (Part 2) at PanamSports.org

• 1999 Pan American Games
• 1999 in multi-sport events
• 1999 in Canadian sports
• International sports competitions hosted by Canada
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• Multi-sport events in Canada
• Pan American Games
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• 1990s in Winnipeg

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