For the second time since 2019, the Pan American Games is heading to Lima, Peru.
At the Extraordinary General Assembly of Pan Am Sports in Miami this week, Lima was chosen to host the 2027 Games over the only other contender, Ascuncion, Paraguay. The Games originally were awarded to Barranquilla, Colombia, but it failed to honor its contractual obligations in that regard.
The 2023 Pan Ams were in Chile. The last time they were held outside a Spanish-speaking country was 2015, when they were in Toronto. They have not been held in the U.S. since 1987, when they were in Indianapolis.
Asked why no U.S. city has been in the mix for so long, U.S. Equestrian Federation Director of Sport David O’Connor said none have been interested in bidding for the Games, which have added importance as an Olympic qualifier.
Athletes going to Lima should be warned not to drink the tea. A Canadian show jumper who drank coca tea in Lima five years ago was found to have a metabolite of cocaine in her system, As a result of ingesting a prohibited substance, she was disqualified from fourth place individually. The team also lost its fourth place finish as a result, which meant it also lost its qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.
The athlete said she had used a teabag provided by her hotel and thought it was just green tea. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, which decided the case, found Canadian athletes were not warned about products that contained coca in Peru, or that coca referred to cocaine.