{"id":3364,"date":"2015-03-27T11:14:59","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T15:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.context.ca\/blog\/?p=3364"},"modified":"2015-03-27T11:14:59","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T15:14:59","slug":"were-excited-for-the-pan-am-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.context.ca\/blog\/2015\/03\/27\/were-excited-for-the-pan-am-games\/","title":{"rendered":"We're excited for the Pan-Am Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Unless you\u2019ve been living in a cave on Mars with your eyes closed, you know the Pan-Am Games are arriving in Toronto July 10-26. We\u2019re pretty excited about it, and here are some reasons why you should be excited too!<\/p>\n

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\nWould you take a look at these puppies?!<\/p>\n

These medals<\/a> are some of the most elaborate in the history of the Pan Am Games. The metals are supplied by Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation while the medals are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. Barrick mined the metals from three of its operations across the Americas: copper from its Zald\u00edvar mine in Chile; silver from its Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic; and gold from its Hemlo mine in Ontario. Each medal is roughly the size of a softball, and the gold medals weigh approx. \u00a0350 grams, so that\u2019s a ton of bling. The back of each medal will have the standard English, French, and Spanish translations for \u201cXVII Pan American Games,\u201d but this year will be the first in history that will include a Braille inscription for both the Pan Am and ParaPan Am Games medals.<\/p>\n

Then of course, theres the whole thing about the celebration of amateur sports. Basketball in Canada has taken huge leaps forward (pun intended) to improve over the last few years. With five former first-round NBA draftees from the GTA, there\u2019s no reason to not be excited about this years squad.<\/p>\n

So far 2013 first overall pick Anthony Bennett, and 2011 first round pick Cory Joseph, have confirmed that they will be participating in this summer\u2019s tournament. We\u2019re just waiting on 2013 13th overall pick Kelly Olynyk, 2011 fourth overall pick Tristan Thompson, and basketball\u2019s wunderkind Andrew Wiggins, to update on their decisions of whether or not they will be participating. \u00a0Fingers crossed! This would be the best time to prove to the Americas that we\u2019re better than our single win performance<\/a> back in 2011.<\/p>\n

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On to beach volleyball, which has never been considered one of Canada\u2019s national sports, but we\u2019re expecting big things from this years showing. Currently Canada has one of the best tandems, who are shooting up the rankings in hopes of getting the opportunity to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Toronto\u2019s Melissa Humana-Paredes, beach volleyball\u2019s global rookie of the year<\/a>, and Winnipeg\u2019s Taylor Pischke started 2014 ranked in the 60s, and shot up to their current position of 23, becoming the top ranked Canadian duo. If that doesn\u2019t get you excited about beach volleyball or the Pan Am Games, we\u2019re not so sure that sports are right for you.<\/p>\n

Along with our up-and-coming teams, we have a handful of reigning champions to be excited about:<\/p>\n