Panam Sports Week in Lima brought together sports leaders from the Americas: the future of the Games, athletes and governance in focus
From August 23 to 28, 2026, Lima is the center of discussions about the direction in which Pan-American sport will develop in the coming years. Panam Sports Week brought together presidents and secretaries general of national Olympic committees, athlete representatives, members of the International Olympic Committee and other leaders of sports organizations from across the Americas. According to the program published by Panam Sports, participants in the Peruvian capital discussed the future of the Pan American and Junior Pan American Games, the position of athletes in the decision-making system, good governance, sustainable financing, digital transformation and the strengthening of the 41 national Olympic committees that make up the continental organization. A special part of the week was dedicated to gender equality and athlete safety, while Panam Sports leaders also toured the infrastructure that will be used at the Lima 2027 Pan American Games. The program concludes with the 64th Panam Sports General Assembly on August 27 and 28, the organization's highest governing forum, where decisions are made with direct consequences for future competitions and institutions of Pan-American sport.
Panam Sports itself announced this format as the first event of its kind in the history of the organization, conceived not only as a series of meetings but as an attempt to connect the continent's different sports systems around common goals. The official program began with the arrival of participants on August 23, while substantive discussions opened a day later with a consultation entitled "Forward Together". The organization announced that leaders of national Olympic committees, athlete representatives and members of the Olympic Movement participated in these talks, with the intention of shaping a common framework for action through 2034. The discussions were divided into five areas, ranging from the Games themselves and the role of athletes to governance, commercial development and institutional modernization. The conclusions of these working groups were presented on August 26, before the final part of the week and the General Assembly session.
Five areas expected to determine the direction through 2034
The most extensive part of Panam Sports Week addressed the question of how to adapt the continental sports system to increasingly complex financial, technological and organizational circumstances. According to the conclusions published by Panam Sports, the first working group dealt with the Pan American and Junior Pan American Games and opportunities to measure their sporting, social and financial impact more precisely. Among the proposed commitments are clearer criteria for including and excluding sports from the program, more transparent reporting of revenues and costs by sport, and measurable commitments by host cities related to legacy after the competition ends. The organization also wants to place greater value on the results of regional competitions and their relationship with qualification for the Olympic Games. In this context, Panam Sports also points to the need for systematic monitoring of the use of sports infrastructure after the Games, so that the success of hosting can be assessed more broadly than through the delivery of the competition itself.
The second group placed athletes at the center of the institutional system, which was one of the topics that most clearly connected the different parts of the week. Panam Sports states that participants highlighted democratically elected and active athletes' commissions, formal voting rights in national Olympic committees, professional standards for mental health protection and better planning for life after the end of an elite sporting career as priorities. Financial support, scholarships, regional cooperation among coaches, clean sport and the continuous fight against doping were also discussed. The proposed indicators include the proportion of national committees with active athletes' commissions, the method of electing their representatives and the number of athlete representatives trained to participate in governance. In this way, the issue of the "athlete voice" is being transformed from a general objective into a set of commitments that could be monitored and compared.
Transparency, elections and financial sustainability
The third working group was dedicated to good governance and elections in sports institutions. According to the published conclusions, the main topics included transparency, accountability, the relationship between sports bodies and governments, professionalization of governance, institutional succession, ethics, risk management and gender equality in leadership positions. One of the more concrete proposals is the application of minimum transparency standards to all 41 national Olympic committees, including the publication of updated and audited financial statements. Panam Sports also announced the development of guidelines, templates and tools intended to help national committees with governance, ethics and financial stability. An important part of the plan concerns preserving institutional knowledge during leadership changes, so that organizations do not lose expert personnel, procedures and programs after every electoral cycle.
The commercial model was a separate, fourth topic, and the discussion showed how increasingly closely the future of sports organizations is linked to data, media rights and digital channels. Panam Sports states that participants want to develop a common commercial model with a revenue-sharing mechanism, with greater emphasis on diversifying funding sources. Priorities include the Panam Sports Channel, television and digital rights, sponsorships, licensed products, the use of data as a commercial resource and clearer rules regarding athletes' image rights and revenues. The organization emphasizes that success should not be measured only by medals or the visibility of the largest markets, but also by the system's ability to financially strengthen national committees with smaller commercial capacities. Such an approach should reduce differences between members that have very different budgets, markets and infrastructure.
The fifth group dealt with strengthening national Olympic committees, innovation and digital transformation. The plan provides for a common diagnostic tool that would assess the institutional capacities of all 41 members, after which each committee would receive a development plan tailored to its own starting position. Among the commitments, Panam Sports listed continuous training for coaches, officials and technical staff, as well as regular monitoring of progress toward the goals for 2034. The discussions also covered artificial intelligence, data tracking, knowledge transfer, regional cooperation and environmental sustainability. The organization's conclusion is that digital transformation is no longer viewed as an addition to core work, but as one of the elements of the institutional capacity of sports organizations.
Gender equality and athlete safety as separate but connected priorities
The program on August 25 was divided between the Women in Sport Forum and a series of sessions dedicated to a safe sporting environment. According to a Panam Sports report, sports leaders, former athletes and experts took part in the morning session and discussed women's representation, access to opportunities and their role in leadership structures. Participants and speakers included Panam Sports President Neven Ilic, Women in Sport Commission Chair Alicia Morea, former President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla, sprinter Asafa Powell and leaders of several national Olympic committees. The program also featured messages from international sports officials, while the discussion included the issue of male allies in promoting equality. The forum's main message was that the number of women in competitive sport and their representation in decision-making bodies are not the same thing and that progress must be measured at both levels.
The afternoon sessions focused on protecting athletes from abuse, harassment and other risks in the sporting environment. Panam Sports states that Nicole Hoevertsz, Chair of its Safe Sport Commission and a member of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee, spoke about guidelines for national Olympic committees and sports federations. Other presentations addressed the training of people responsible for athlete safeguarding, preventive procedures, identifying risky situations and the response of institutions when a problem arises. The Colombian model based on five pillars - prevention, protection, equality, integrity and governance - was presented as a practical example. Athlete safety was thereby positioned as a matter of organizational standards and accountability, rather than only individual behavior.
Lima 2027 as an immediate test of plans and legacy
Panam Sports Week is being held in a city that will once again host the Pan American Games in less than a year, so the issue of Lima's infrastructure and readiness was an important part of the program. On August 26, the Panam Sports Executive Committee held a meeting, after which a tour of the Pan American Village and the VIDENA complex, one of the key venues for the 2027 Games, was organized. According to the official Panam Sports program, the purpose of the tour was to directly inspect preparations at sports facilities and the standards required for the continental competition. The Peruvian Sports Institute had previously announced that the organization of the Games is being carried out in coordination with Panam Sports and the local organizing committee, and that part of the infrastructure from 2019 is being reused and modernized. In July 2026, the IPD and Peru's National Infrastructure Authority signed an agreement that, according to the IPD announcement, provides for more than 145 million Peruvian soles in investments in strategic sports facilities, including the National Stadium, Coliseo Eduardo Dibós, the tennis center and the country's first dedicated cricket infrastructure.
The Lima 2027 Pan American Games will be held from July 23 to August 8, after Panam Sports and the organizing committee moved the originally planned dates by one week at the beginning of 2026. According to the official sports schedule, 38 sports and 58 disciplines are planned, with around 6,900 athletes from 41 countries and delegations. Competitions will actually begin before the opening ceremony: baseball is scheduled from July 21, and cricket, which will be part of the Pan American Games for the first time, from July 22. The opening ceremony is planned for July 23 at the National Stadium in Lima. The fact that the city is organizing the Games again only eight years after the 2019 edition gives additional weight to discussions about legacy, because in practice it will be possible to assess how functional the facilities built earlier have remained and how they can be adapted to a new competition cycle.
The General Assembly makes decisions that go beyond a single sports week
The final part of Panam Sports Week consists of the 64th Panam Sports General Assembly, which is being held on August 27 and 28 in Lima. According to the organization's announcement, important items on the agenda include decisions on Panam Sports representation in the Association of National Olympic Committees, as well as the election of the host of the 2029 Junior Pan American Games. Ciudad de Guatemala, Rosario and Ciudad de Panamá initially submitted bids to host the Games, but on July 22 Panam Sports announced that Panama had withdrawn its bid because the planned timing of the Games overlapped with the national electoral process. Rosario in Argentina and Ciudad de Guatemala therefore remained in the final race. At the time of the first day of the Assembly on August 27, the result of the host election had not yet been officially announced, so the decision will be known after the voting procedure provided for in the Assembly program has been completed.
The significance of the gathering therefore is not limited only to preparations for Lima 2027. The decisions and recommendations adopted during the week address issues that will affect revenue distribution, governance standards, the position of athletes, the development of young competitors, the safety of the sporting environment and the way organizations adapt to the digital era. Panam Sports connects 41 national Olympic committees in the Americas, and the differences among these systems are substantial in terms of market size, infrastructure, financial resources and professional capacities. This is precisely why one of the recurring themes in Lima was the development of common standards alongside different implementation models, depending on the capacities of each individual member. Whether the broad set of conclusions from Panam Sports Week will turn into measurable changes will depend on how extensively the announced indicators, deadlines and responsibilities are incorporated into the everyday work of the continental organization and its members after the Assembly concludes on August 28.
Sources:
- Panam Sports - official announcement of Panam Sports Week, event program and topics of the 64th General Assembly (link)
- Panam Sports - conclusions of the "Forward Together" initiative and five priority groups for the organization's development through 2034 (link)
- Panam Sports - report from the Women in Sport Forum and sessions on a safe sporting environment held on August 25, 2026 (link)
- Panam Sports - official schedule and basic information about the Lima 2027 Pan American Games (link)
- Panam Sports - information on Ciudad de Panamá's withdrawal from the bid for the 2029 Junior Pan American Games and the remaining candidates (link)
- Instituto Peruano del Deporte - official information on investments in sports infrastructure ahead of Lima 2027 (link)