The Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games mean a huge challenge for all actors in the disciplines, from Para Athletes, coaches, sport classifiers and officials, who must comply with established requirements set by each International Federation. 

On that topic, from this Friday a training for 60 national technical officials is being performed and the officials, should they pass the course, will obtain the National Technical Official category for Para Athletics.  With this diploma, they will be enabled to participate in the largest multi-sport event in the Americas. 

The courses are given by expert speakers from World Para Athletics, the federation that rules over this Paralympic sport around the world.  They are Ruth Liong from New Zealand, and David Jesset and Jon Mason from United Kingdom. It is hoped that the workshop can be performed once more during the first semester of 2023 and have the 120 certified officials needed for the Games. 

“It is one of the most important activities we have, since it will allow us to train and enable skills for the development of paralympic sport, strengthening its structure at a country level,” said Gianna Cunazza, CEO of Santiago 2023.
On his part, the president of the Chilean Paralympic Committee, Sebastián Villavicencio, stated that “these courses will allow the organization of certified competitions in Chile, aiming to include them in the world rankings, which doesn’t happen in a sufficient manner nowadays, and forces our athletes to go abroad to qualify and set their marks.”

AN INTERNATIONAL COURSE WILL ALSO BE PERFORMED

From Wednesday the 7th, a training aimed for International Technical Officials will be performed, with 25 candidates coming from five continents, including the Chilean candidates Evelyn Olivares and Sara Henríquez, who will aim to get the highest certification for the Para athletics competitions.

Both courses, financed by Copachi and Santiago 2023 -in a joint work between the Parapan American Planning and Integration area and their “Road to Santiago” program, the sports management and the Federation Services area,- will develop their critical stage at the Para Athletics National Championship, set for December 10th and 11th at Colegio San Ignacio El Bosque in Providencia district. 
After this date, similar courses will be offered for Cerebral Palsy(CP) Football and Wheelchair Rugby.