South American Games
Games
1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Sports
Athletics Field hockey Football Futsal Gymnastics Handball Softball Tennis

The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: Juegos Suramericanos; Portuguese: Jogos Sul-Americanos), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: Juegos Cruz del Sur) is a regional multi-sport event held between nations from South America, organized by the ODESUR (acronym for "Organización Deportiva Suramericana" – South American Sports Organization. ^[1]

The first Games were held in 1978 in La Paz, Bolivia. They have since been held every four years, with the most recent edition in 2018 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The Games have had an equivalent to the Olympic Flame since their inception: the South American Flame, which is relayed from Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, to the host city. ^[2]

For the XI edition in 2018 there were two bids: Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with the final hosting decision in favour of Cochabamba in 2011. Starting with the 2014 edition, the South American Para Games are held for South American Paralympic athletes. Just like the Olympic Games, the host city for the South American Games is also the host for Para-South American Games.

The detailed history of the South American Games together with an extensive list of medal winners was published in a book written (in Spanish) by Argentinian journalist Ernesto Rodríguez III with support of the Argentine Olympic Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Sports Secretary of Argentina. ^[3]

Games

Year	Games	Host City	Host Country	Opened by	Dates	Athletes	Nations	Sports	Top medalling nation
1978	1	La Paz	Bolivia	Juan Pereda	3 – 12 November	480	8	16	Argentina
1982	2	Rosario	Argentina	Reynaldo Bignone	26 Nov – 5 Dec	961	10	19	Argentina
1986	3	Santiago	Chile	Augusto Pinochet	28 Nov – 8 Dec	969	10	17	Argentina
1990	4	Lima	Peru	Alberto Fujimori	1 – 10 December	1,070	10	16	Argentina
1994	5	Valencia	Venezuela	Rafael Caldera	19 – 28 November	1,599	14	19	Argentina
1998	6	Cuenca	Ecuador	Gustavo Noboa	21 – 31 October	1,525	14	24	Argentina
2002	7	Belém, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo	Brazil	Almir Gabriel, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and others (each city had its own opening ceremonies)	1 – 11 August	2,069	13	24	Brazil
2006	8	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Néstor Kirchner	9 – 19 November	2,938	15	28	Argentina
2010	9	Medellín	Colombia	Álvaro Uribe	19 March – 30 March	3,751	15	31	Colombia
2014	10	Santiago	Chile	Sebastián Piñera	7 March – 18 March	3,499	14	33	Brazil
2018	11	Cochabamba	Bolivia	Evo Morales	26 May – 8 June	4,010	14	35	Colombia
2022	12	Asunción	Paraguay	Diego Galeano Harrison	1 – 15 October	4,476	15	34	Brazil
2026	13	Curicó	Chile	Gabriel Boric Font	12 - 26 September

Para Games

Year	Games	Host City	Host Country	Opened by	Dates	Athletes	Nations	Sports	Top medalling nation
2014	1	Santiago [4]	Chile	Michelle Bachelet	26 March – 30 March	600+	8	7	Argentina
2018	–	Cochabamba [5]	Bolivia	Cancelled

Youth Games

Year	Games	Host City	Host Country	Opened by	Dates	Athletes	Nations	Sports	Top medalling nation
2013	1	Lima	Peru		20 September – 29 September	1200	14	19	Brazil
2017	2	Santiago	Chile	Michelle Bachelet	29 September – 8 October	1279	14	20	Brazil
2022	3	Rosario	Argentina		April 28 - May 8	2500	15	26	Brazil

Beach Games

Year	Games	Host City	Host Country	Opened by	Dates	Athletes	Nations	Sports	Top medalling nation
2009	1	Punta del Este/ Montevideo	Uruguay		3–13 December		12	9	Brazil
2011	2	Manta	Ecuador		2–12 December	675	13	10	Brazil
2014	3	Vargas	Venezuela		14–24 May		12	10	Venezuela
2017	–	Pimentel	Peru	Cancelled
2019	4	Rosario	Argentina		14–23 March		14	13	Argentina
2023	5	Santa Marta	Colombia		14–21 July	800	15	14	Colombia

Masters Games

Year	Games	Host City	Host Country	Opened by	Dates	Athletes	Nations	Sports	Top medalling nation
2021	–	Santiago	Chile	Cancelled [6]

All-time medal count

The total medal count for all the Games until 2022 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.

South American Games medal count
Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Argentina	942	826	801	2569
2	Brazil	872	701	637	2210
3	Colombia	582	501	498	1581
4	Venezuela	566	512	557	1635
5	Chile	392	486	598	1476
6	Ecuador	213	265	403	881
7	Peru	209	289	399	897
8	Uruguay	75	129	165	369
9	Bolivia	35	86	162	283
10	Paraguay	27	70	75	172
11	Panama	16	19	37	72
12	Suriname	9	3	12	24
13	Netherlands Antilles	7	7	17	31
14	Aruba	3	7	14	24
15	Guyana	2	5	15	23
16	Curaçao	0	1	0	1
Total		3950	3907	4389	12246

Sports

Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

  Aquatics –   Cycling –   Football –   Gymnastics –   Roller sports –   Volleyball

Sport (discipline)		Body		78	82	86	90	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22
		World	South America
Diving		FINA	ASUA	X	X							X	X	X	X
Open water swimming											X	X	X	X	X
Swimming				X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Synchronized swimming					X					X		X	X	X	X
Water polo												X		X	X
Archery		FITA	AAF			X				X	X	X	X	X	X
Athletics		IAAF	CONSUDATLE	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Badminton		BWF	BPA								X	X		X	X
Baseball		IBAF	COPABE	X	X		X	X				X
Basketball		FIBA	ABASU	X	X						X	X	X	X	X
Basque pelota		FIPV												X
Bocce		CMSB									X				X
Bodybuilding		IFBB	IFBBSud America						X						X
Bowling		FIQ	PABCON			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Boxing		AIBA	AMBC	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Canoeing		ICF	COPAC					X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
BMX racing		UCI	COPACI								X	X	X	X	X
Mountain biking									X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Road cycling				X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Track cycling				X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Equestrian		FEI	PAEC	X	X						X	X	X	X	X
Fencing		FIE	CPE	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Field hockey		FIH	PAHF								X		X	X	X
Football		FIFA	CONMEBOL	X	X	X		X				X	X	X	X
Futsal									X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Beach soccer															X
Golf		IGF	FSG							X			X	X	X
Artistic gymnastics		FIG	CONSUGI	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Rhythmic gymnastics							X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Trampoline														X	X
Handball		IHF	PATHF							X	X	X	X	X	X
Judo		IJF	PJC	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Karate		WKF	PKF					X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Modern pentathlon		UIPM											X	X
Racquetball		IRF	PARC						X					X
Artistic roller skating		FIRS	CPRS		X				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Roller hockey					X								X
Roller speed skating					X				X	X	X	X	X	X
Rowing		FISA			X	X				X	X	X	X	X	X
Rugby sevens		WR	SAR										X	X	X
Sailing		ISAF	SASC		X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Scuba diving						X
Shooting		ISSF	CAT	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Softball		ISF	CONPASA					X		X		X
Squash		WSF	FPS									X		X	X
Table tennis		ITTF	LATTU		X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Taekwondo		WTF	PATU			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Tennis		ITF	COSAT	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Triathlon		ITU	PATCO						X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Beach volleyball		FIVB	CSV									X	X	X	X
Indoor volleyball				X	X							X	X	X	X
Water skiing		IWWF	IWWF Pan Am								X	X	X	X	X
Weightlifting		IWF	PAWC	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Wrestling		UWW	CPLA	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Total events				171	249	193	260	296	357	380	463	486	317	373

See also

• Ibero American Games
• Pan American Games
• Parapan American Games
• Central American and Caribbean Games
• Central American Games
• Bolivarian Games
• South American Masters Games
• Pan American Masters Games
• South American University Games
• World Indigenous Games
• Indigenous Peoples' Games

References

External links

• ODESUR official website
• South American Games at ODESUR web page
• Para South American Games