Friday at the National Stadium in Lima (Peru) opened the XVIII Pan American Games in front of more than 30,000 spectators, who greatly applauded the delegations of the 41 participating countries and the 6,680 athletes in competition.

It is the Haitian Taekwondoist Anya Necol Louissaint (23 years old), who was the flag bearer of the Haitian delegation during the opening ceremony. For Anya, who competes in the 59kg category, this will be her second participation in a major tournament after representing Haiti at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (2016) where she was beaten by Haby Niaré in the first round and by Ruth Gbagbi at the repechage, but she is determined this time to get her first medal.

Alain Jean-Pierre, the Secretary General of the Haitian Olympic Committee (COH), recognizes that the possibility for Haiti to win a medal is low due to the lack of financial means to support the athletes' programs, however, he believes it possible for Haiti to win at least one medal with Vanessa Clerveaux (100m hurdles) already qualified for the World Athletics Championship to be held in Doha, Qatar, from September 28th to October 6th, with a record time of 12 seconds and 88/100.

Haiti is participating in these eighteenth games with a delegation of 19 people including 8 athletes competing in 6 of the 61 disciplines (39 sports) represented in these games in which gold, silver and bronze medals will be contested:

List of Haitian athletes :

Athletics :

Jeffrey Julmis (110m hurdles)

Vanessa Clerveaux (100m hurdles)

Rowing :

Gabrielle Amoto

Judo :

Philippe Metellus (73kg)

Weightlifting :

Edouard Joseph

Swimming :

Alexandre Grand Pierre (200m breaststroke)

Émilie Grand Pierre (100m breaststroke)

Taekwondo :

Anya Necol Louissaint (59 kg)

There will be 17 days of competitions (July 26 to August 11), which will take place in 14 districts of Lima and Callao in different places such as: VIDENA, the sports complex Villa María del Triunfo, the regional sports village of Callao, Villa Sports Center El Salvador, Punta Rocas. 21 competitions will qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo during these games..

Note that Haiti is one of 18 countries that participated in all editions of the Pan American Games (created in 1951) and Haitian athletes won a total of 2 silver and 5 bronze.

See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-28241-icihaiti-sports-8-haitian-athletes-at-the-18th-pan-american-games.html

BF/ HaitiLibre