SOUTH AMERICAN GAMES UNVEILED IN BOGOTA
The Medellín 2010 XI South American Games were presented yesterday in Bogota to the country's sports leaders as well as domestic and foreign media representatives.
President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was one of the special guests at the event along with the Minister of Culture, Paula Marcela Moreno, the Governor of Antioquia Province, Luis Alfredo Ramos Botero, the Director of the Colombian Sports Institute (Coldeportes), Everth Bustamante, and the President of the Colombian Olympic Committee, Baltazar Medina.
The presentation, held at the Cosmos 100 Convention Center in the capital of the Republic, demonstrated the quality and effectiveness of the project to host the IX South American Games next year in Medellín.
The event hosts, the Mayor of Medellín, Alonso Salazar Jaramillo, and the Director General of the Games, Alicia Eugenia Vargas Restrepo, explained how organization work is progressing for the event, which will take place from 19 to 30 March of next year.
Mayor Salazar confirmed that the creator and producer of the Cirque du Soleil, Franco Dragone, will be in charge of producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Medellín South American Games.
Alicia Eugenia Vargas Restrepo explained how the Games are promoting inclusion and equality, with the community involved in designing the logo, torch, cauldrons and apparel.
During the evening, Mayor Salazar also presented the Medal of Sports Merit to Yuri Alvear, world judo champion, and Natalia Sánchez, who won bronze at the Archery World Cup recently held in South Korea.
At the end of the ceremony, President Uribe highlighted the coordinated manner in which Medellín City and Antioquia Province are organizing the Games, and said the same enthusiasm will be applied in preparations for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, to be held in Colombia in 2011.
Source: Medellín 2010 Organizing Committee
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