(ATR) Iván Dibós, the dean of IOC members in Latin America hopes that the Pan American Games in Lima will contribute to national unity.
"There is a lot of enthusiasm," says Dibós who will become an honorary member of the IOC at the end of 2019.
"The Games have been promoted with great insistence by the press," he tells Around The Rings.
"I imagine that the Organizing Committee has invested very good money in promoting it, because here in Peru there has never been so much interest in an event, outside of football. "
Dibós, 80, entered the IOC in 1982, succeeding his father who served 28 years an IOC member.
In his career, Dibos was president of several national sports federations, deputy mayor and mayor of Lima, president of the Peruvian Sports Institute and leader of the Peruvian Olympic Committee.
He is a member of the World Council of the International Automobile Federation and for 15 years has been a member of the World Taekwondo Executive where he is one of the vice presidents. He was chef de mission to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
His sports career began in 1959 as a member of the Peruvian rowing team to the Pan Am Games held in Chicago.
Dibós believes that the economic effort made by Peru for the Games should be highlighted without forgetting the decision of former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Kuczynski authorized a significant amount of money for the Pan American Games.
"Kuczynski made the Games possible," he says while lamenting Kuczynski’s fall from grace. In March 2018 Kuczynski resigned and after he is being investigated for an alleged money laundering scheme.
"That is why the construction has been accomplished in record time, because when there is money, everything goes ahead," says Dibós.
The Organizing Committee has reported a savings in the execution of the initial budget of $1.5 billion. He says spending is under budgetby $300 million.
Dibos underlined the social legacy of the Pan American Village which will help reduce the deficit of existing housing. Dibós expects that the new facilities created and others refurbished "will be well used" for which we must "rescue the sports culture of Peru that was lost a long time ago. "
Dibós confesses that he was never dragged into the pessimism over of the impossibility of holding the Games in Lima. He says he survived the initial indifference and criticisms that he says put him in political danger.
The picture in Peru was further complicated by natural disasters, resignations of officials linked in one way or another to the mega-event and serious internal conflict in the Peruvian Olympic Committee. Peru also withdrew as host of the Karate World Cups and the FIFA U-17 football championship.
"I hope that these Games help us to join Peruvians because I truly see that there is a lot of selfishness," says Dibós, who believes that he has been marginalized in the preparation of the Lima Pan Am Games. He says in other countries and sports organizations the experience of senior sports figures like him are often sought.
Dibós says he should face no concerns over the previous leadership of the Peru Olympic Committee. He says he was a member of the COP leadership not by election but automatically by being a member of the IOC.
"I don't have any sanctions… I was immediately cleaned. Thank God I had the financial means to defend myself and prove my total innocence,"he says. According to Dibós, he was accused of using public money for activities abroad on behalf of the COP.
"In Peru, complaints are like a sport," he notes.
Dibós has his special credential to participate in the Pan American Games in Lima. He will attend as a guest at the General Assembly of Panam Sports on July 25, together with IOC president Thomas Bach.
"My relations with the IOC are excellent," says Dibós, who reveals that Bach has sent him a message to pick him up at the airport today.
Reported by Miguel Hernandez.
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