What to know for the Pan Am Games

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Though the opening ceremony is still a couple of days away, competition at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile began this morning with a men's baseball game between the host country and Mexico. It did not go well for the Chileans, who were routed 16-0.

Canadians start competing Thursday, when boxing gets underway alongside more baseball. (Canada does not have a team in the latter, though it does have one in women's softball). The opening ceremony takes place Friday night.

The Games run through Nov. 5, with more than 6,800 athletes (including 473 Canadians) from 41 countries and territories in the Americas and the Caribbean competing in 39 different sports.

With the 2024 Summer Olympics just nine months away, you can think of these Pan Am Games as a regional dress rehearsal for Paris. For some athletes, the stakes will be higher, as more than 100 Olympic spots are up for grabs across 21 sports. In some of those (including boxing, diving and gymnastics), athletes can secure direct Olympic berths for themselves or their country. In others (including swimming and track and field), they can earn rankings points and/or meet qualification standards that could help send them to Paris.

Some other things to know about these Pan Am Games:

Canadians are going to win a lot of medals.

Canada ranks third all-time in both gold and total medals at the Pan Am Games, which have been held every four years since 1951. As you'd expect, the United States is the dominant country, with more than twice the gold and overall medals of any other nation. Cuba is second in both