Pan Am headliners bid Games a golden goodbye

SANTIAGO, Oct 25 (Reuters) – The curtain came down on two of the Pan American Games’ showcase sports on Wednesday while the event’s biggest names, Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade and Canadian swimmer Maggie MacNeil, bid a golden goodbye.

Andrade, perhaps the most intriguing and charismatic gymnast after Simone Biles, provided the Games with some badly needed glitz, scooping up four medals including a second gold on Wednesday with a victory on the balance beam ahead of team mate Flavia Saraiva.

Earlier Andrade had won the Pan Am gold on the vault, adding it to her Olympic and world championship titles on the apparatus, and picked up silvers in the team and uneven bars.

While Andrade had a productive Games in Santiago, she could not match MacNeil, who leaves with a seven medal haul including five gold (100 metres butterfly, 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 4×100 freestyle relay and 4×100 medley relay), the most ever by a Canadian athlete in any sport at a single Pan Am Games.

Her seven medals (five gold, a silver and bronze) are also a single Games high for a Canadian swimmer.

“I had no idea what the records were,” said MacNeil. “The 100 fly was the goal for me to secure that title, but other than that I was like, ‘I’ll just see what happens’.”

In the end it took a team effort to get MacNeil her fifth gold – the 23-year-old swimming the third leg butterfly of the medley relay, handing the lead to freestyler Mary-Sophie Harvey, who beat the U.S. to the wall for the win.

Harvey also returns home with seven medals: three gold, two silver and two bronze.

While MacNeil was the star performer at the aquatic centre, it was the United States that dominated the competition.

With their big guns like Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky back home, the U.S. leaned on a mostly B Team in Chile and still reigned supreme, winning 19 gold and 45 total medals from 36 races.

The Americans finished with a bang, picking up five medals including gold in the women’s 1,500 metres freestyle and the men’s 4×100 medley relay.

“I understand people wanting to see the super stars, but those super stars have to get made at some point,” U.S. head coach Brent Arckey told Reuters. “We cast a huge net the year before the Olympic trials and Olympic Games, trying to make sure we give a lot of people opportunity to get international experience, which only sets us up to be better in 2024.”

It was also the final day of competition at rowing, where the U.S. grabbed two more gold, including one in a new event on the Pan Am programme: mixed eights, featuring crews made up of men and women.

The U.S. continues to pad its lead at the top of the medal standings, improving to 59 gold and 134 total medals.

Canada, powered by a big day in the pool and taking four of the five golds on offer in badminton, moved into second with 28 gold and 76 total, followed by Mexico on 26 gold and 64 medals.

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