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The opening gala for the 17th edition of the Bolivarian Games was held Saturday in Santa Marta, Colombia, which will host athletic teams from 11 different countries running until Nov. 25.
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Athletes from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela will take part in the competition, according to AVN.
More than 60 percent of the national athletes competing in Santa Marta are under 24 years old.
Sunday's events include Peru vs. Venezuela Under-20 Female Soccer match; Panama vs. Peru Women's Softball match; the Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela Under-23 Female Volleyball match; and Bolivia vs. Colombia Under-19 Men's Basketball game.
With a total of 4,658 gold, silver and bronze medals, Venezuela leads the medal count at the Bolivarian Games, which pays homage to independence fighter Simon Bolivar and has been held every four years since 1938.
It represents the first official competition for many Latin American countries of the Olympic cycle. The second Olympic competition will be the 2018 South American Games, which will be played in Cochabamba, Bolivia; followed by the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, which will be held in Barranquilla, Colombia. The last stop before the Olympics will be the 2019 Pan-American Games, to be held in Lima, Peru.
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