1990 Pan American Winter Games

I. Pan American Winter Games

Venue:	Las Leñas , Argentina
Stadion:	Las Leñas
Opening ceremony:	September 16, 1990
Closing ceremony:	September 22, 1990
Opened by:	José Octavio Bordón (Governor of the Province of Mendoza )
Competitions:	6 in 1 sport
Countries:	8th
Athletes:	95

The 1st Pan American Winter Games were held from September 16-22 , 1990 in Las Leñas , Argentina . Due to the modest snow conditions, only six alpine ski races could be held, in which 95 athletes from eight different countries took part. It was the only Pan-American winter games to date.

History and organization

As early as 1942, the Pan American Winter Games were worked on for the first time, but the Second World War ruined the plans. Proposals to hold some competitions in Bariloche after the very first Pan American Games in Buenos Aires in 1951 were also rejected. In a planned event in Lake Placid in 1959 , the South American countries showed little interest due to political and economic differences.

Parallel to the upswing of the Argentine ski resorts in the 1980s, Antonio Rodríguez, President of the Argentine Olympic Committee, revitalized the idea of ​​the Pan American Winter Games. At the congress of the Pan-American Sports Organization (PASO) in Mar del Plata in March 1988, the unanimous decision was made for Argentina to host the first Winter Games. In November of the same year, the PASO awarded the games to Las Leñas , where a modern winter sports center had opened just five years earlier. With representatives of the national Olympic committees of Chile, Canada and the USA , the organizers created a program that included alpine skiing , freestyle skiing , cross-country skiing and biathlon . The budget of almost 1.5 million US dollars also included transfers from Ezeiza Airport, about 1200 kilometers away .

procedure

The Las Leñas ski station

More than a dozen participating countries had announced themselves for the games between September 3 and 15, 1989, but additionally planned competitions in disabled sports had to be canceled in advance due to insufficient interest. In addition, it was difficult for the organizers to find sponsors. At the beginning of August, during the women's ski races in the venue, which were part of the 1989/90 World Cup season, it became clear that the insufficient snow conditions in Las Leñas would not allow the major event. The PASO then postponed the event to the end of August 1990. Another weather-related postponement and persistent lack of snow in the southern winter of 1990 made it necessary to streamline the program, to which all sports except alpine skiing fell victim.

The first Pan American Winter Games were finally opened on September 16, 1990 by the governor of the province of Mendoza , José Octavio Bordón. Aristeo Benavídez, a ski racer who took part in the 1952 Winter Olympics , lit the Pan-American fire, Carolina Eiras read the official oath of the games. A total of 95 athletes from eight different countries took part in the races, three other Argentines were denied participation for bureaucratic reasons.

The descents took place on September 18 on the 2430 meter long Júpiter route above the village. As the New York Times reported, the races were affected by strong gusts of wind up to 60 mph. The men's downhill had to be canceled after the fall of the Argentine Mariano Puricelli with start number 26, but was still counted. After that, snowstorms made for a three-day break and only two Super-G and giant slaloms could be held on the Vulcano route . The slaloms originally scheduled for Saturday had to be canceled without replacement. The USA and Canada, which had the largest contingent with 25 athletes each, won all 18 medals. The title winners included the tried and tested World Cup runners Brian Stemmle and AJ Kitt as well as the former world champion and later Olympic champion Diann Roffe . Carolina Eiras and Astrid Steverlynck achieved the best results in the host country as eleventh in downhill and super-G.

The next Pan American Winter Games in 1993 was initially planned for North America and then for Santiago de Chile , but had to be discarded due to renewed lack of snow. After that there were no more serious efforts on the part of the PASO for the Winter Games.

Attendees

Participating Nations

•  Argentina (24)
•  Bolivia (2)
•  Brazil (5)
•  Chile (9)
•  Canada (25)
•  Colombia (1)
•  Mexico (4)
•  United States (25)

Results gentlemen

Departure

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	CAN	Brian Stemmle	1: 38.21
02	CAN	Rob Boyd	1: 38.32
03	United States	AJ putty	1: 38.93
04th	CAN	Felix Belczyk	1: 39.43
05	United States	Jeff Olson	1: 39.77
06th	United States	Joe Levins	1: 39.89
07th	CAN	Roman Torn	1: 39.94
08th	CAN	Ed Podivinsky	1: 40.09
09	CAN	Robbie Bosinger	1: 40.49
10	United States	Jeremy Nobis	1: 41.43

Date: September 18, 1990
Course: Júpiter
Start height: 3300 m, target height: 2790 m
Height difference: 510 m
41 runners at the start, canceled after 26.

Super G

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	United States	AJ putty	1: 06.19
02	United States	Tommy Moe	1: 06.70
03	United States	Jeremy Nobis	1: 07.20
04th	United States	Jeff Olson	1: 07.61
05	United States	Kyle Wieche	1: 07.74
06th	United States	Nathaniel Bryan	1: 07.75
07th	CAN	Rob Boyd	1: 07.81
08th	CAN	Cary Mullen	1: 07.93
09	United States	Bill Hudson	1: 07.97
10	CAN	Roman Torn	1: 08.28

Date: September 22nd, 1990
Course: Vulcano
Starting altitude: 2710 m, target altitude: 2370 m
Elevation difference: 340 m

Giant slalom

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	United States	Jeff Olson	2: 03.23
02	United States	Nathaniel Bryan	2: 03.50
03	United States	Jeremy Nobis	2: 04.31
04th	United States	Tommy Moe	2: 04.97
05	United States	Robbie Parisien	2: 05.04
06th	United States	Bill Hudson	2: 05.36
07th	United States	Joe Levins	2: 05.50
08th	CAN	Cary Mullen	2: 05.53
09	United States	Bob Ormsby	2: 05.57
10	United States	Kyle Wieche	2: 05.69

Date: September 22nd, 1990
Course: Vulcano
Target height: 2370 m

Results women

Departure

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	CAN	Kendra Kobelka	1: 41.21
02	CAN	Lucie Laroche	1: 41.32
03	United States	Hilary Lindh	1: 41.91
04th	United States	Chantal Knapp	1: 41.93
05	CAN	Nancy Gee	1: 42.07
06th	United States	Kristin Krone	1: 42.54
07th	CAN	Kate Pace	1: 42.76
08th	CAN	Michelle McKendry	1: 42.99
09	United States	Julie Parisien	1: 44.98
10	United States	Allison Fenn	1: 45.71

Date: September 18, 1990
Course: Júpiter
Starting altitude: 3300 m, target altitude: 2790 m
Elevation difference: 510 m

Super G

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	United States	Krista Schmidinger	1: 09.11
02	CAN	Kendra Kobelka	1: 09.54
03	United States	Julie Parisien	1: 10.05
04th	CAN	Michelle McKendry	1: 10.07
05	CAN	Lucie Laroche	1: 10.10
06th	CAN	Nancy Gee	1: 10.35
07th	United States	Hilary Lindh	1: 10.47
08th	United States	Kristin Krone	1: 10.49
09	United States	Allison Fenn	1: 11.48
10	United States	Chantal Knapp	1: 12.27

Date: September 22nd, 1990
Course: Vulcano
Starting altitude: 2710 m, target altitude: 2370 m
Elevation difference: 340 m

Giant slalom

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
01	United States	Diann Roffe	2: 06.58
02	CAN	Nancy Gee	2: 08.62
03	CAN	Michelle McKendry	2: 09.12
04th	United States	Eva Twardokens	2: 09.42
05	United States	Krista Schmidinger	2: 09.48
06th	United States	Kim Schmidinger	2: 09.63
07th	United States	Julie Parisien	2: 10.02
08th	CAN	Kate Pace	2: 10.35
09	CAN	Lucie Laroche	2: 11.78
10	United States	Tanis Hunt	2: 11.85

Date: September 22nd, 1990
Course: Vulcano
Target height: 2370 m

Medal table

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	United States	4th	2	5	11
2	Canada	2	4th	1	7th

Web links

Commons : Pan American Winter Games 1990  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Video of the opening ceremony on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Ernesto Rodríguez III: Libro I de los Juegos Panamericanos 1951–2011. Libros del ciclo Olímpico Argentino, Buenos Aires 2011, ISBN 978-987-1367-36-8 , pp. 61-62 (Spanish).
2. ^ ^{A b c} Daniel Bell: Encyclopedia of International Games. McFarland & Co., Jefferson 2003, ISBN 978-0786464142 , p. 380 (English).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} International Olympic Committee (ed.): World, Continental and Intercontinental Games. Historical Archives Olympic Studies Center 2012, p. 8. Online PDF (391 kB), accessed on March 15, 2020 (English).
4. ^ Paul Robbins: Pan Am Games Postponed for a Year. In: Skiing. December 1989, p. 32 (English).
5. ↑ Pan Am Games Canceled. In: Ski. October 1989, p. 20 (English).
6. ↑ Pan American winter games open in Argentina. United Press International , September 17, 1990, accessed March 15, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Skiing - Stemmle and Kobelka win. In: The New York Times , September 19, 1990 issue, p. 95.
8. ^ Canadian finishes 1st in ski event. In: The South Bend Tribute , September 19, 1990 edition, p. 34.
9. ^ John Fry: New North-South Axis. In: Snow Country. December 1990, 8-12 (English).
10. ^ ^{A b} Pan-American Games - Skiing. In: The Windsor Star , September 19, 1990 edition, p. 17.
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} Skiing. In: Calgary Herald , September 23, 1990, p. 54.