Santiago 2023 says farewell on a night filled with music, homages and camaraderie

The Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games closed this 26 November with the same dose of good energy that it started with, 11 days ago. Maybe even more.

The closing ceremony, held in the Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio, just beside the Athlete’s Village, still had the presence of hundreds of sportsmen and sportswomen, who have yet to go back to their countries, after being part of the biggest Para sports meeting in the Americas.

The ceremony was filled with music, fireworks, a full moon, and deserved homages to the almost 2,000 Para athletes from 31 nations that battled in 17 sports in Santiago, Chile, creating impactful storylines for themselves and their teams, either by achieving personal milestones, winning medals, breaking records or even qualifying to Paris 2024.

“I congratulate and thank all the Para athletes that were part of Santiago 2023, they were a joy and a balm to see all these days. In Chile, we commit to promote sport in all its dimensions. Thank you for all that you gave these past days”, said the Chilean President, Gabriel Boric.

“This is not over; we now start creating the biggest legacy of our history. This was not just a sporting milestone, but a party of inclusion that will stay engraved in future generations (…) Santiago became a symbol of unity”, added the President of Santiago 2023 and Chilean Minister of Sports, Jaime Pizarro.

That camaraderie and community present in the Games was also engrained through the farewell event, with Para athletes from different countries taking pictures among each other and jumping and dancing together to the rhythm of local artists and, later in the night, a DJ. Hundreds of volunteers were also invited to “party” in the improvised dance floor.

The only perceivable nostalgic moment was the extinguishing of the Cauldron, which came accompanied by a general gasp. Nevertheless, the energy went straight up again with more music, which turned the venue almost into a carnival sight. One last time, the colours of the several delegations' uniforms painted the landscape of the event.  

This was the seventh edition of the Parapan American Games. The first one happened in 1999, in Mexico City, with 1.000 athletes from 18 countries. From there on, the growth has been consistent and substantial.

Other cities that hosted the competition have been Mar del Plata (2003), Rio de Janeiro (2007), Guadalajara (2011), Toronto (2015) and Lima (2019). 

The eighth edition of the Games will be in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 2027. Representatives of the city received the Americas Paralympic Committee (AFC) flag during Santiago 2023 closing ceremony, as the protocol usually demands.

At the end of the Parapan American Games, Brazil finished on top of the medals table with 156 gold, 98 silver and 89 bronze, for a total of 343. The USA is next (55, 58, 53, for a total of 166), followed by Colombia (50, 58, 53, for 161). 21 countries won medals during the whole competition.

Five world records and 300 Parapan American records were broken through the 11 days of activity, mainly in Para athletics and Para swimming, the sports that concentrate the most number of events.