The Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium, a premature old man of 49 years, will show during the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games “Santo Domingo 2026” the freshness he once had.
The main sports facility in the country, designated in 2005 as the Félix Sánchez Olympic Stadium in honor of the world and Olympic champion of the 400 meter hurdles, will be intervened by the Government for the regional fair.
“The Olympic Stadium will be the great infrastructure and modernization work for the Santo Domingo 2026 Games,” revealed José P. Monegro, president of the Organizing Committee during his appearance at the Café Deportivo of LISTÍN DIARIO.
He argued that the renovation works that will be carried out are not only due to the fact that it will be the scene of the opening and closing ceremonies of this new international commitment that the country assumes, but because it is indebted to the exponents of athletics that so highly they have raised the flag at the world and olympic concert.
“It will also be the stage for a sport that has given us so much glory. Therefore, the Dominican Republic has the obligation, it has the moral duty to present a first-class stage to welcome all Dominicans and foreigners who participate and watch the games,” he said.
Although he did not offer details of the work to which the main sports facility in the country will be subjected or the cost of the investment, the journalist Monegro said that what is necessary will be done so that it lives up to the circumstances.
Modality
Monegro explained that the games will be set up under the figure of the “public trust” and “philanthropic”. He explained that they will be public because everything that is done will be for the State, through the State and for the Dominican people, with State resources. “And they will be philanthropic because we have no profit interests.”
The Olympic Stadium had similar roles in the XII Central American and Caribbean Games in 1974 and in the Pan American Games in 2003. On both occasions its capacity to accommodate 27,000 seated people fell short.
It was precisely for the 2003 Panama Awards (“A commitment for all”) when the ancient work was intervened by the State, but since then the occasional cloths with paste that they have given it have not been able to hide some folds that can be seen from afar, caused by mainly due to the abusive use that is made of it when artistic or acrobatic shows are presented, such as the “Monster Jam”, for example.
The president of the Games Organizing Committee declared that the youngest in the country’s sports facilities folder are already 20 years old and, therefore, they will be intervened to renovate or adapt them, as was done with the Racquetball Pavilion.
In this sense, he said that the field hockey field, of the Parque del Este Complex, and the Rincón Dam, of Bonao, must be rescued because they are in poor condition.
Rehearsal
Regarding the condition of sub-venue that the country has with the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, Monegro said that they constitute a kind of test.
This regional multi-sport event will be held from June 23 to July 8, 2023 in the capital of El Salvador, while the Dominican Republic will host seven sports as a sub-venue
He indicated that he has no doubts that the Dominican Republic will pass with high marks the commitment it has made to hold the taekwondo, modern pentathlon, equestrian, canoeing, clay pigeon shooting, racquetball and field hockey tournaments in the country.
“The sub-site is a kind of mini-games”, emphasized, in turn, Carlos Iglesias, a member of the Organizing Committee.
