Host Brazil won last three gold medals at the 15th Pan American Games on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro but it was the United States which finished atop the medal table with 98 gold, 88 silver and 52 bronze medals in the 17-day-long sporting gala.
Brazil won Sunday's all three gold medals in men's marathon, men's basketball and tennis men's singles final to rank third on the table with 54 gold, 40 silver and 67 bronze medals, 5 gold medals less than Cuba. But its total of 161 medals is 26 more than that of Cuba.
Cuba stands second with 59-35-41.
More than 5,600 athletes from 42 countries and regions attended the Pan Am Games which aroused media hype throughout Latin America.
Brazilian sports leaders hailed the success of the games, saying the games qualified Rio de Janeiro as Olympic host.
"The country's presence in the international scenario can already be felt by the scheduling of important competitions such as the judo world championships, synchronized swimming and the military world games," said Brazil's Sports Minister Orlando Silva Junior.
The 34-sport Olympic-style Pan American Games are regarded as a huge test for Rio de Janeiro to prove it is capable of hosting major international sporting events like the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
Silva said he believes that the Brazilian organizers have lived up to expectations.
"What Brazil showed with Rio 2007 was its capability to host a large multi-sporting event," Silva added.
"We had more than 5,000 athletes and about 10,000 visitors and no serious incident occurred. We even had a reduction of common crimes in Rio, which shows that the security has worked."
It was reported that Rio spent nearly 2 billion US dollars, eight times more than projected, to make the Games a success. More than 20,000 police officers and army soldiers have been deployed to ensure that the Games run smoothly, amid concern about the high level of violence and crime in Rio.
But Mario Vazquez Rana, chief of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) which sanctioned the Games, partially disagreed with Silva.
"The Pan American Games are successful, but there remains much work to be done if Rio wants to host the Olympic Games."
Vazquez, also a member of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said the local organizing committee is going to release a review report of the Rio 2007, but an excellent report doesn't ensure that Rio would win IOC's favor.
"The Pan American Games opened the door for Rio, but there is a long way to go," said the 75-year-old PASO chief from Mexico.
The IOC will select the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games in October 2009. Madrid, Tokyo, Doha of Qatar and Baku of Azerbaijan are also interested in hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.
Vazquez named poor infrastructure as one of the areas that need improvement. Other critics said that the unbalance of events attendance by fans and two fights in judo and handball competitions involving Brazilian athletes and officials might hinder the organizers' efforts.
Despite all these, Vazquez said the Rio 2007 is the best ever, cleanest Pan American Games in history thanks to the efforts of local organizers and more than 15,000 volunteers.
The organizers conducted more than 1,300 doping tests during the games and none of the samples was positive.
The athletics standard of the Games is also improving, though the world records drought since 1979 continued.
"The quality of competitions here has improved over the last four years," said Steve Roush, Chief of Sport Performance of US Olympic Committee.
"I think it's difficult to win medals where we used to win over 300 medals. It becomes more difficult because other countries now are much better."
Roush's remarks were proved by what happened in the swimming pool.
Thanks to a splendid performance by Thiago Pereira who won six gold and eight medals in total, Brazilian swimmers won 12 gold medals, only 7 behind the United States, which totally dominated the swimming pool in previous Pan Am Games.
The host also welcomed a new Brazilian record and a new hero. Table tennis player Hugo Hoyama won his ninth gold medal in five editions of Pan Am Games. The previous record of 8 gold medals was set by retired swimmer Gustavo Borges.
"There were more world records broken in the Athens Olympics than in all the Pan Am Games combined," said famous Brazilian sports analyst Juca Kfouri."
"The Pan Ams lose to the Asian Games and other tournaments. It's old, and has reached its limit," he added.
The Pan American Games will be held four years later in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Source: Xinhua
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