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Pan American Games to open in Chile with many athletes eyeing spots at Olympics_我的网站

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A | The Pan American Games open Friday in Chile's capital with more than 100 spots available for next year's Paris Olympics and the usual contest to see who will finish second behind the United States in the medals chart.More than 6,800 athletes from 41 countries and territories will compete in Santiago over 17 days. Competitors in 20 sports, including gymnastics, boxing and swimming, will be looking to directly qualify for the Olympics. Other sports will offer spots based on quotas, ranking points or minimum qualification standards.The Pan American Games, the largest multi-sport event in the Americas, are held every four years and precede the Olympics by a year. Santiago, where the streets have been rocked by protests in recent years, will debut as host. About 17,000 volunteers and 3,000 security officers will work at the event.If injuries don't get in the way, the U.S. team in Chile will include 93 Olympians and 32 Olympic medalists in a roster of 631 athletes. Of those, 318 are women and 313 are men. They will compete in 43 of the 46 sports.Brazil, Mexico and Canada are expected to fight for second place in the medals table. The three are bringing some of their biggest stars to the competition, including Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, Mexican diver Osmar Olvera and Canadian swimmer Maggie Mac Neil.American athletes will seek Olympic qualification in nine sports: breaking, boxing, gymnastics (rhythmic, trampoline), sport climbing, field hockey (men’s and women’s), modern pentathlon, artistic swimming, handball and water polo (men’s and women’s).Athletes in archery, diving, equestrian jumping, table tennis, sailing and shooting can secure quotas that will send them to Paris next year. Those competing in badminton, 3x3 basketball, cycling, taekwondo and triathlon can get ranking points that allow them to qualify. Track and field athletes and swimmers can also get minimum qualification standards for U.S. Olympic team trials.The U.S. team at the Pan American Games has 13 Olympic champions, including nine who won gold in Tokyo — six members of the women's water polo team, fencer Lee Kiefer, shooter Vincent Hancock and swimmer Brooks Curry.The other four won their Olympic titles prior to 2021, including Helen Maroulis and Kyle Snyder in wrestling, and Laura Kraut and McClain Ward in equestrian.Four years ago, the United States won 293 medals in Lima, Peru — 122 gold, 87 silver and 84 bronze. Brazil came in a distant second with 54 gold, 45 silver and 70 bronze. Mexico finished in third with 37 gold, 39 silver and 62 bronze, edging Canada with 35 gold, 65 silver and 52 bronze.As the Olympics did in Japan, the Pan American Games are seeking to reach a younger audience with new sports. Breaking, sport climbing and skateboarding will make their debuts at the event. The latter two have already had a first Olympic competition in Tokyo, while breaking will debut next year in Paris.The opening ceremony of the Pan American Games will take place on Friday at the 47,000-seat Estadio Nacional, around which six new venues for 30 sports were built with an investment of $507 million.Inaugurated in 1938, the Estadio Nacional held its first major sporting event in 1962 when Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 to win the World Cup title in soccer.Eleven years later, the stadium became a place of horror with extrajudicial killings and torture after the coup d’etat that ousted President Salvador Allende and led him to kill himself in 1973.“People will be surprised by how beautiful this National Stadium Park turned out,” Neven Ilic, the president of organizer Panam Sports, said last week. “All Chileans should feel proud of the level of the facilities and because they will be hosting a celebration never seen before in this country.”The Chilean government says the park that includes the stadium will be a place for the public to practice sports, play and walk as part of the legacy of the Pan Am Games. Authorities also promise to hand over the apartments in the athletes village to families after the event as permanent housing.___AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports。

An Air China C919 aircraft Photo: Screenshot from CARNOC.com
Starting Wednesday, home-made C919 aircraft will fly a daily international route from Beijing to Ulan Bator in Mongolia, marking the first routine international passenger service for the Chinese-built jet.
According to Air China's official App, the flight will depart Beijing Capital International Airport at 3 pm and arrive in Ulan Bator at 5:15 pm local time. The return flight will leave Ulan Bator at 6:30 pm and arrive in Beijing at 8:35 pm.
The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.
The newly launched direct flight route is not merely the inauguration of a new commercial route, but also a milestone that marks the official entry of China's homegrown large aircraft into the international civil aviation transport market, Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In his view, Ulan Bator, roughly 1,200 kilometers from Beijing, is a natural choice for the inaugural route. Its manageable distance allows for same-day round trips, meaning domestic technical support can be on hand quickly during the initial phase. That not only ensures safety and efficiency but also helps build know-how for international operations - all in keeping with a prudent, pragmatic approach to growth.
What matters more, though, is the practical value this route brings, Wang noted. Mongolia's highland climate - with its short summers and harsh winters - poses fresh challenges for failure patterns, maintenance procedures, and spare parts stocking.
Yet it is only by operating in such varied conditions that we can collect real data, test the aircraft's adaptability, and refine a robust support framework; ultimately, it is through weathering these diverse environments that China's large aircraft will earn its global operational credentials, according to Wang.
The C919 has already accumulated operational experience on regional routes. It completed its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing on May 28, 2023. On New Year's Day 2025, China Eastern Airlines became the first carrier to deploy the C919 on scheduled flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong. In November 2025, Air China also began operating the C919 on regular flights between Beijing and Hong Kong.
The C919 has safely transported more than 5 million passenger trips since entering commercial service three years ago, and has reached 23 cities in its flight network, its producer the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China said on its official WeChat account on May 28 this year.
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