2002 South American Games

VII South American Games

2002 South American Games logo

Host city

Belém, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo

Country

Brazil

Nations participating

Athletes participating

2,069

Events

24 sports

Opening ceremony

August 1, 2002

Closing ceremony

August 11, 2002

Officially opened by

Almir Gabriel

Torch Lighter

Dayse Silva

Main venue

Estádio do Mangueirão

< 1998 Cuenca	2006 Buenos Aires >

The VII South American Games (Spanish: Juegos Sudamericanos; Portuguese: Jogos Sul-Americanos) were a multi-sport event held in 2002 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro; São Paulo, São Paulo; Curitiba, Paraná; and Belém, Pará; all in Brazil. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organization (ODESUR).^[1] An appraisal of the games and detailed medal lists were published elsewhere,^[2] emphasizing the results of the Argentinian teams.

In Belém, the games were officially opened by the governor of the state of Pará, Almir Gabriel. Torch lighter was bowler Dayse Silva.^[3]^[4]

Originally awarded to Córdoba, Argentina, the Games were moved to Bogotá, Colombia, following an economic crisis in Argentina. Later, violence between the Colombian government and guerrillas caused Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela to threaten to leave the Games, which resulted in the relocation to Brazil. Colombia did not send a delegation to protest this decision.

Medal count

The medal count for these Games 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.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Brazil	148	95	90	333
2	Venezuela	97	70	64	231
3	Argentina	76	89	80	245
4	Chile	24	41	46	111
5	Ecuador	23	32	37	92
6	Peru	6	28	30	64
7	Netherlands Antilles	3	2	7	12
8	Uruguay	2	8	21	31
9	Panama	1	5	6	12
10	Paraguay	0	1	8	9
11	Guyana	0	1	7	8
12	Aruba	0	1	2	3
13	Bolivia	0	0	9	9
Total		380	373	407	1160