Logical and expected. The next edition of the Central American Games, scheduled for 27 October to 13 November, has been cancelled. It was to have been held in Guatemala and Costa Rica, but the first of the two host countries is under suspension by the IOC Executive Board. The Central American Sports Organisation, Ordeca, announced at the end of an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee that the continental event had been cancelled. According to an Ordeca press release, this decision was taken “in view of the governance context affecting the normal functioning of the Guatemalan National Olympic Committee, in accordance with the Olympic Charter“. As a reminder, the IOC announced on Thursday 8 September, on the first day of its Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, the suspension of the Guatemalan Olympic Committee as of 15 October, for political interference. “For obscure reasons“, explained the Olympic body, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court suspended last August “a number of provisions of the statutes and regulations” of the National Olympic Committee, whose elections had just taken place. The 7th edition of the Central American Games was to bring together athletes from Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Ordeca has announced that it will launch a new call for bids next year, but for an edition of the multi-sport event now scheduled for 2025.
