South American Games Explained

Above:	South American Games
Bodyclass:	hlist nowraplinks
Headerstyle:	border-top: 1px solid #aaa
Header1:	Games
Data2:	1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Header3:	Sports
Data4:	Athletics Field hockey Football Futsal Gymnastics Handball Softball Tennis

South American Games
Abbreviation:	JJSS
Formation:	1978 in La Paz, Bolivia
Recurrence:	four years
Last:	2022 in Asunción, Paraguay
Next:	2026 in Santa Fe Province, Argentina
Purpose:	Multi-sport event for South America

The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: Juegos Suramericanos; Portuguese: Jogos Sul-Americanos), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: Juegos Cruz del Sur) is a regional multi-sport event held between nations from South America, organized by the ODESUR (acronym for "Organización Deportiva Suramericana" – South American Sports Organization.

The first Games were held in 1978 in La Paz, Bolivia. They have since been held every four years, with the most recent edition in 2018 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The Games have had an equivalent to the Olympic Flame since their inception: the South American Flame, which is relayed from Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, to the host city.

For the XI edition in 2018 there were two bids: Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with the final hosting decision in favour of Cochabamba in 2011. Starting with the 2014 edition, the South American Para Games are held for South American Paralympic athletes. Just like the Olympic Games, the host city for the South American Games is also the host for Para-South American Games.

The detailed history of the South American Games together with an extensive list of medal winners was published in a book written (in Spanish) by Argentinian journalist Ernesto Rodríguez III with support of the Argentine Olympic Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Sports Secretary of Argentina.

Participants

15 ODESUR members along to the code COI of each one

Argentina (ARG)
Aruba (ARU)
(BOL)
Brazil (BRA)
Chile (CHL)
Colombia (COL)
(CUW)
Ecuador (ECU)
Guyana (GUY)
Panama (PAN)
Paraguay (PAR)
Peru (PER)
Suriname (SUR)
Uruguay (URU)
(VEN)

Games

width=20	Year	width=20	Games	width=100	Host City	width=120	Host Country	width=180	Opened by	width=180	Dates	width=20	Athletes	width=20	Nations	width=20	Sports	width=100	Top medalling nation
1978	1	La Paz		Juan Pereda	3 – 12 November	480	8	16
1982	2	Rosario		Reynaldo Bignone	26 Nov – 5 Dec	961	10	19
1986	3	Santiago		Augusto Pinochet	28 Nov – 8 Dec	969	10	17
1990	4	Lima		Alberto Fujimori	1 – 10 December	1,070	10	16
1994	5	Valencia		Rafael Caldera	19 – 28 November	1,599	14	19
1998	6	Cuenca		Gustavo Noboa	21 – 31 October	1,525	14	24
2002	7	Belém, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo		Almir Gabriel, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and others (each city had its own opening ceremonies)	1 – 11 August	2,069	13	24
2006	8	Buenos Aires		Néstor Kirchner	9 – 19 November	2,938	15	28
2010	9	Medellín			19 March – 30 March	3,751	15	31
2014	10			Sebastián Piñera	7 March – 18 March	3,499	14	33
2018	11	Cochabamba		Evo Morales	26 May – 8 June	4,010	14	35
2022	12	Asunción		Diego Galeano Harrison	1 – 15 October	4,476	15	34
2026	13	Curicó			12 – 26 September

Para Games

width=20	Year	width=20	Games	width=100	Host City	width=100	Host Country	width=100	Opened by	width=180	Dates	width=20	Athletes	width=20	Nations	width=20	Sports	width=100	Top medalling nation
2014	1	Santiago^[1]		Michelle Bachelet	26 March – 30 March	600+	8	7
2018	–	Cochabamba^[2]		Cancelled
2026	2	Valledupar^[3]		Gustavo Petro		800+

Youth Games

See main article: South American Youth Games.

width=20	Year	width=20	Games	width=100	Host City	width=100	Host Country	width=100	Opened by	width=180	Dates	width=20	Athletes	width=20	Nations	width=20	Sports	width=100	Top medalling nation
2013	1	Lima			20 September – 29 September	1200	14	19
2017	2	Santiago		Michelle Bachelet	29 September – 8 October	1279	14	20
2022	3	Rosario			April 28 – May 8	2500	15	26

Beach Games

See main article: South American Beach Games.

width=20	Year	width=20	Games	width=100	Host City	width=100	Host Country	width=100	Opened by	width=180	Dates	width=20	Athletes	width=20	Nations	width=20	Sports	width=100	Top medalling nation
2009	1	Punta del Este/Montevideo			3–13 December		12	9
2011	2	Manta			2–12 December	675	13	10
2014	3	Vargas			14–24 May		12	10
2017	–	Pimentel		Cancelled
2019	4	Rosario			14–23 March		14	13
2023	5	Santa Marta			14–21 July	800	15	14

Masters Games

See main article: South American Masters Games.

width=20	Year	width=20	Games	width=100	Host City	width=100	Host Country	width=100	Opened by	width=180	Dates	width=20	Athletes	width=20	Nations	width=20	Sports	width=100	Top medalling nation
2021	–	Santiago		Cancelled^[4]

School Games

The South American School Games have been held since 1991. 27th was held in Santiago, Chile.^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]

Medals (1978-2022)

The total medal count for all the Games until 2022 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.

South American Games medal count
Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	width=60	Total
1		940	826	802	2568
2		873	700	637	2210
3		582	501	498	1581
4		566	512	557	1635
5		392	487	597	1476
6		213	265	403	881
7		209	289	399	897
8		76	129	164	369
9		35	86	163	284
10		27	70	75	172
11		16	19	37	72
12		9	3	12	24
13		7	7	17	31
14		3	7	14	24
15		2	5	15	22
16		0	1	0	1
Total		3950	3907	4389	12246

Sports

Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

Aquatics – Cycling – Football – Gymnastics – Roller sports – Volleyball

Sport (discipline)	Body		78	82	86	90	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22
World	South America

		FINA	ASUA											X	X
															X
															X
															X
															X

		FITA	AAF												X
		IAAF	CONSUDATLE												X
		BWF	BPA												X
		IBAF	COPABE
		FIBA	ABASU												X
		FIPV
		CMSB													X
		IFBB	IFBBSud America												X
		FIQ	PABCON												X
		AIBA	AMBC												X
		ICF	COPAC												X

		UCI	COPACI												X
															X
															X
															X

		FEI	PAEC												X
		FIE	CPE												X
		FIH	PAHF												X

		FIFA	CONMEBOL												X
															X
															X

		IGF	FSG												X

		FIG	CONSUGI												X
															X
															X

		IHF	PATHF												X
		IJF	PJC												X
		WKF	PKF												X
		UIPM
		IRF	PARC

		FIRS	CPRS												X



		FISA													X
		WR	SAR												X
		ISAF	SASC												X

			CAT												X
		ISF	CONPASA
		WSF	FPS												X
		ITTF	LATTU												X
		WTF	PATU												X
		ITF	COSAT												X
		ITU	PATCO												X

		FIVB	CSV												X
		FIVB	CSV												X

		IWWF	IWWF Pan Am												X
		IWF	PAWC												X
		UWW	CPLA												X

Total events				171	249	193	260	296	357	380	463	486	317	373

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Para-South American Games to open in Santiago. paralympic.org. 27 July 2015.
Web site: South American Paralympics Cancelled. Around the Rings. 17 April 2018. 16 April 2018.
Web site: En Valledupar se firmó el convenio de ciudad sede para la realización de los II Juegos Parasuramericanos 2026. In Valledupar the host city agreement was signed for the holding of the II Para-South American Games 2026. Spanish. 18 April 2024. www.mindeporte.gov.co. Ministry of Sports (Colombia). 27 April 2024.
https://www.adnradio.cl/polideportivo/2021/10/14/odesur-volvio-a-suspender-los-juegos-sudamericanos-master-santiago-2022.html ODESUR volvió a suspender los Juegos Sudamericanos Máster Santiago 2022
https://santiago2023.org/en/noticias/portada-sitio-web/detalle/709/south-american-school-games-the-first-event-that-will-enjoy-the-infrastructure-legacy-of-santiago-2023
https://www.isfsports.org/news/brazilian-school-games-record-breaking-numbers-participation-and-engagement-mark-success-2023
https://www.spanish.academy/blog/10-classic-schoolyard-games-kids-play-in-latin-america/
https://westernquebec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Games-of-Latin-American-origin.pdf
https://slidesgo.com/theme/traditional-south-american-games-to-celebrate-national-play-outside-day-in-preschool