Country Brazil Athletes participating 2,069 | Nations participating 14 Events 24 sports | |
Host city Belém, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo Opening ceremony August 1, 2002 (2002-08-01) | ||
The VII South American Games (Spanish: Juegos Sudamericanos; Portuguese: Jogos Sul-Americanos) were a multi-sport event held in 2002 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo, São Paulo; Curitiba, Paraná; and Belém, Pará; all in Brazil. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR). An appraisal of the games and detailed medal lists were published elsewhere, emphasizing the results of the Argentinian teams.
Contents
In Belém, the games were officially opened by the governor of the state of Pará, Almir Gabriel. Torch lighter was bowler Dayse Silva.
Originally awarded to Córdoba, Argentina, the Games were moved to Bogotá, Colombia, following an economic crisis in Argentina. Later, violence between the Colombian government and guerrillas caused Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela to threaten to leave the Games, which resulted in the relocation to Brazil. Colombia did not send a delegation to protest this decision.
Medal count
The medal count for these Games is tabulated below. This table is sorted by the number of gold medals earned by each country. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next, and then the number of bronze medals.
Notes
†: The competition was contested by junior representatives (U-20).
‡: The competition was contested by youth representatives (U-18).