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SANTIAGO 2023 TAKES OVER FROM LIMA 2019
Chile was represented by an outstanding show of Los Jaivas in the closing ceremony.
After 11 days of effort, sacrifice, joy and excitement shown in every competition, Carlos Neuhaus, president of the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee, and Julio César Ávila, president of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC), declared the Parapan American Games closed in a ceremony held at the VIDENA Athletics Stadium.
While the Paralympic anthem was played, the Deputy Mayor of Lima, Miguel Eugenio Romero, handed over the APC flag to the APC President Julio César Ávila. Immediately after, Ávila handed over the flag to the Deputy Secretary of Sports of Chile Andrés Otero Klein.
Go Chile!
Then it was time for Santiago to take over and become the host city of the next Parapan American Games that will be held in 2023. As part of the segment dedicated to the next host, Isidora Guzmán, who is only 14 years old, sang the national anthem of Chile accompanied by beautiful landscapes of the southern country.
Isidora, ambassador of people with an impairment who has actively participated in promoting child rehabilitation in her country, has cerebral palsy that affected her mobility when she was a kid. However, she managed to learn how to count to ten before she was one and a half year, recite the entire alphabet when she was two, and learn to read at age four and a half.
Afterwards, the legendary Chilean rock band Los Jaivas, with more than 50 years of continuous activity, fired up the ceremony with a performance that made the stadium vibrate with excitement. This group, formed in the 60s and still relevant nowadays, thrilled the public with their hits “Arauco” and “Todos juntos” that mixes rock with psychedelic beats and Andean sounds.
This way, Chile takes over from Lima and will be responsible for organizing a new sports celebration for the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games.