Pan American Games Pictures #2 Of 2 (Village & Racing)

Pan American Games Pictures #2 Of 2 (Village & Racing): This post completes the posting of my pictures from the Pan American Games. I'm hoping that the pictures (and videos that I will put up later) will do the games justice in terms of communicating my full and complete experience. To be honest with you, I don't think this is possible though.

You can find the photo albums using the follwing links: click here for racing photos and click here for the athete's/ Pan American Games village photos (83 pics).




2007-07 Pan American Games Village (83 photos)


2007-07 Brazil Pan American Games Racing (188 photos)

A view from Brian & my room's balcony

Many of the Pan American Games village residents came in and left from this well organized and secure bus bay, complete with x-ray machines and metal detectors as well as armed guards and lots of helpful volunteers

The sign for the bus that took us to the velodrome/ skating track- bay #12

The Canadian operations centre included offices, medical rooms, athlete's lounge, coach & official's lounge

Tight security at the Pan American Village

Some of the yummy food from the cafeteria

Signatures in the laundry service room

A big screen complete with sound was set up outside in the village- crowds would gather to watch the events

Outside one of the Canadian buildings- one of the really nice things about the Pan American Games is that virtually all the athletes from the delegations wore their uniforms at all times

The pool- picture from my balcony- the water was freezing, so I didn't swim at all

Early morning in Rio de Janeiro- 6-something AM

The cafeteria- fit for 2500 starving athletes

Inside the athletes village- the international area

Signatures on a wall inside the cafeteria

The buildings in the Pan American Village were colour coded- very nice to look at and brand new!

20km distance- Colombia (Jorge Luis Cifuentes), Ecuador (Jorge Bolanos), and Cuba (Tony Garcia)

I made a reference yesterday to part of my experience being terrible; let me explain. Simply said, I was expecting better performances from myself, and I took it quite hard not being able to be at the top of my game. I give no excuses, instead I take motivation, lessons, and experience from the racing

Women's 500-meter final- Jennifer Caicedo (Colombia) leads eventual winner Brittany Bowe (USA)

At the start line for one of the semi-final women's 500-meter races

Men's 1000-meter heat

El Salvador's Diana Platero leads while USA's Jessica Smith is on the outside (left)

A shot of the track- I have to say that I was not impressed with the surface that was selected for the games. It was basically 4 foot x 4 foot untreated/ unfinished wood- it offered no grip or roll. Other than the track, the facility was very nice

The track...

One of the women's distance race

Mexico'a Ana Gabriela Celedon leads the way during one of the women's distance race while USA's Jessica Smith checks her skates

Chile's Jose Guzman on his way down, and with his fall, medal hopes are dashed

Faces of focus- Martine Charbonneau (Canada) and Joan Mariana Estrada (Guatemala)

Brazil's Thalita Arroyo leads Canada's Sarah Hopkins

USA's Joey Mantia in front of Argentina's Damian Fernandez and Colombia's Oswaldo Aramis Sael Pernett- Mantia was unbeatable during the weekend, winning all three of the sprint distances (300m, 500m, and 1000m) on his way to the sprint gold

Women's distance racing