October 15 - Brazil are fielding one of their strongest contingencies ever for the Pan American Games, which opened here last night, as a direct reflection of the country's Ministry of Sports development plan to turn them into a leading sporting power by the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
A total of 522 Brazilian athletes are participating in the Pan American Games this month which is more than any other country, including the United States.
Of those athletes, 38 per cent have at some point received financial support from the Ministry of Sports Athlete Scholarship programme meaning that the Brazilian Government has invested over $4 million (£2.3 million/€2.8 million) into the athletes participating here.
Brazil will be looking to better their third place finish at the last Pan American Games in Rio in 2007 with Minister of Sports Orlando Silva saying that the country not only wants to become a major sporting power by the 2016 Olympics but remain one after the Games.
"Although the work we're doing to improve our athletic programme will come to fruition and be seen around the world at the 2016 Games, our plan will have an impact far beyond 2016," said Silva.
"By putting in these initiatives and working on improving our programme like we never have before, we see Brazil developing into one of the world's premier sports programs for the long term."
A key part of the plan is the Athlete Scholarship programme which was set up in 2005 and is now the largest financial support programme for individual sports in the world.
In total, the programme has seen the Federal Government assist nearly 14,000 Brazilian sportsmen and women by directly investing $224 million (£142 million/€161 million) into the project.
Key examples of the success of the programme have seen Athlete Scholarship recipient Fabiana Beltrame (pictured), the rower who will compete in the Pan American Games, take gold for Brazil in September at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled in Slovenia in the single scull event.
In June of this year, Beltrame also won a stage of the rowing World Cup to become the first Brazilian athlete in history to do so.
Further success from the rowing star and her compatriots here would see Brazil achieve an important part of their long-term goal in the build-up to 2016.
"This is not a Government plan, but rather a state policy, along the lines of those built in the areas of health and education, which were formulated after taking into consideration the demands of the society and soliciting the direct input of the involved parties," added Silva.
-Tom degun
Source: www.insidethegames.biz
The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge arrived last night to Guadalajara, and this morning, he visited the facilities of the International Broadcast Center (IBC) as well as the Main Press Center (MPC) located at the Expo Guadalajara.
October 13 - Guadalajara have declared that they are still ready to host the 2011 Pan American Games on schedule despite the tail end of Hurricane Jova battering Mexico's Pacific Coast and producing heavy rain around some of the key sporting venues that will be used for the competition.
Such were the delays in constructions to the venues that the Telmex Athletics Stadium (pictured), which will host the track and field competitions, was only completed at the beginning of this week.
They are pumping $10 million (£6.35 million/€7.3 million) into a plan that calls for 10,000 municipal state and federal police, as well as elements from the Mexican army and navy, to patrol Guadalajara's streets 24 hours per day during the Games.
Soca Warriors senior team midfielder Kevin Molino is one of five players with senior team experience named in an 18-man Olympic (Under-23) squad by coach Angus Eve which will leave on Saturday to participate in the 16th Pan American Games. The two-week event takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from October 14 to 30. T&T received an invitation from the organisers as a replacement for Guatemala which was withdrawn by the country’s Olympic committee for non-compliance with protocol.
T&T senior women’s football team will come up against FIFA World Cup participants Colombia on the opening day of the soccer competition at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, on October 11.