"All the lights are green for an excellent Pan American Games in Santiago 2023," said Bach. "And among them could be the Olympic Games or other events of this nature." Brazil parlayed the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan Am Games into a successful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Bubka seemed to indicate Chile and Santiago could do the same. "I think these Pan American Games are a really big step for future goals," Bubka told reporters. UNDER CONSTRUCTIONWhile Olympic talk is flattering it is premature with Santiago yet to prove it can successfully deliver a Pan American Games that in some places still appear under construction.

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Persons: Dylan Martinez, Sergey Bubka, Thomas Bach's, Bach, Bubka, Eric Myles, Myles, Steve Keating, Ken Ferris Organizations: Estadio Nacional, Pan, Rights, Pan American, Olympic Committee, Games, Olympic Games, de Janeiro Pan Am, Olympic, Argentina, South, Pan American Games, Parque Estadio Nacional, Canadian Olympic Committee, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Santiago, Chile, Chilean, Brazil, de Janeiro, Uruguay, Paraguay, Spain, Portugal, Morocco