El auge y el fracaso de los primeros Juegos Panamericanos

• Páginas: 153-176
• Fecha: 01 Octubre 2025
• Fecha de publicación: 01 Octubre 2025
• Autor: Francesco Davide Ragno
• Materia: Ciencias sociales

ISSN 1850-003X

COLECCIÓN, Vol. 36, Nro. 2, mayo-octubre 2025, pp. 153-176

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE

FIRST PAN-AMERICAN GAMES’

DESIGN

Francesco Davide Ragno*

Universidad de Bologna



francesco.ragno3@unibo.it

Recibido: 20 de febrero de 2024

Aceptado: 30 de junio de 2025

DOI: 10.46553/colec.36.2.2026.p153-176

*

Abstract: The organization of the First Pan American Games encountered significant

challenges. Initially scheduled for 1942, the event was postponed —and ultimately held in

1951— due to the Americas’ involvement in World War II. This article argues that the

postponement was rooted in three major crises: two political and one sporting, revealing the

underlying tensions that shaped the planning process. These issues must be examined within

the broader historical context of the Western Hemisphere at th e time, including national

political dynamics, inter-American relations, and the evolution of the Olympic movement

in Latin America.

Keywords: Pan-Americanism; Pan-American Games; Good Neighbor Policy, Sport,

Olympism.

* Francesco Davide Ragno is an Assistant Professor in History and Institutions of the

Americas at the University of Bologna. His research focuses on Latin American

political history, populism, and inter-American relations during the 20th century. His

publications include Liberale o populista? Il radicalismo argentino (1930-1943) (Il

Mulino, 2017) and, with Benedetta Calandra, Argentina: Biografia di una nazione

dall’indipendenza ad oggi (Il Mulino, 2025).

This research benefited from the Postgraduate Research Grant Programme funded by

the International Olympic Center, through a project entitled “Which Americas? Ideas,

Political Culture, and Rituals in the Pan-American Games’ Design.”The author wishes

to thank Mariadele Di Blasio, who carried out part of the documentary collection work.

154 FRANCESCO DAVIDE RAGNO

COLECCIÓN, Vol. 36, Nro. 2, mayo-octubre 2025, pp. 153-176

EL AUGE Y EL FRACASO DE LA ORGANIZACIÓN

DE LOS PRIMEROS JUEGOS PAN-AMERICANOS

Resumen: La organización de los Primeros Juegos Panamericanos enfrentó obstáculos

sumamente complejos. Inicialmente planificados para 1942, fueron pospuestos —y

finalmente celebrados en 1951— debido a la implicación del continente americano en la

Segunda Guerra Mundial. Este artículo sostiene que las razones de dicho aplazamiento

fueron profundas y se relacionan con tres crisis: dos de índole política y una de carácter

deportivo, lo que evidencia las dificultades que surgieron durante el proceso de planificación

de estos juegos. Estas deben analizarse en el contexto histórico del hemisferio occidental en

ese momento, tanto en términos de las situaciones políticas de cada país como de las

relaciones interamericanas y del desarrollo del movimiento olímpico en América Latina.

Palabras clave: Pan-Americanismo; Juegos Pan-Americanos; Política de Buena Vecindad;

deporte; olimpismo.

I. Introduction

On February 25, 1951, Juan Domingo Perón inaugurated the first edition

of the Pan-American Games. Marked by the mass participation typical of

the Peronist regime, this sporting event was intended to showcase the

success of the so-called “New Argentina” to the Americas and the wider

world. As Eva Perón stated during the closing ceremony: “From here, from

this corner of America, illuminated by the star of the Peronist doctrine that

seeks to offer the world a new solution —the 'justicialist' solution— we

affirm our faith in the eternal values of man”1. Eva suggested that Argentina

served as a model, offering, through the “Third Position” a worldview very

different from the political cultures of the Cold War emerging at that time.

This stance, appealing to the common roots of a segment of the international

community —specifically, the grassroots of Latin civilization— already had

a rich foundation in Latin America. Its ideological origins dated back to the

1 La Época, 10 March 1951, p. 8.