The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, participated this Wednesday in the opening of ticket sales for the Pan American and Parapan American Games, the largest sporting event held in the country since the 1962 World Cup, and which, he said, is expected more than a million attendees.
“Our goal is to bring together more than a million people. We want to see our sports venues packed with the public and that the Games are seen throughout the country, in neighborhood meetings and community centers, that sport helps us build community, to meet again and that, for a little while, differences are put aside,” said the president. .
The XIX Pan American Games will be held from October 20 to November 5 and the VII Parapan American Games between November 17 and 26 in the Chilean capital and in other regions of the country such as the coastal Valparaíso and the southern O’Higgins and Biobío.
“We entered the final 100 meters, 100 days for a dream that started a long time agoproduct of the work of many authorities of different political colours”, he said.
“Like all human work, it has not been exempt from difficulties and criticism, but thanks to the professionalism of those in charge, we have managed to move it forward,” he added.
100 days after the event, some of the sports facilities register delays and there is concern about the large increase in costs caused by delays in the works.
Boric guaranteed that the deadlines will be met, and that on October 20 “an unprecedented sports festival in the country will begin”.
He recognized that the Chilean State owes “a debt” to its athletes and asked not to “romanticize” their effort and vocation.
“The State, with private companies, we have to provide more support because athletes should worry and have their energies put into the performance of the discipline, not in doing bingos to get the shirt or collections to pay for tickets,” he stressed.