Canada targets Olympic berths at Pan Am Games

Canada has set a target for the Pan American Games but it's berths not medals that team officials will be counting over the next two weeks.

The Games are a direct Olympic qualifier for 12 sports and Canada's chef de mission Jacques Cardyn said securing those spots for next summer in London will be the team's "main target" when the curtain goes up on competition Saturday in Guadalajara —the city better known for its mariachi music and tequila.

"We have a goal of: Perform and prepare our team for London," said Cardyn, a former Olympic fencer.

Canada finished third four years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, claiming 138 medals to finish behind the United States and the host country. Because Canada's team in Mexico is so diverse  a mix of some of the biggest stars in their sports, and developing athletes looking to soak up the multi-sport Games experience — the final medal tally isn't the team's main gauge for success.

"We want all the medals," Cardyn said, jokingly. "We don't have a goal because it's so different for each of the sport, some teams have upcoming athletes, and some teams have their best teams for qualifying for London. Other teams, this is their only major Games opportunities. But we usually do very good, we usually do in the top three of four."

Cardyn and Canadian Olympic Committee officials met with the media Friday hours before the opening ceremonies at the 49,850-seat Omnilife Centre that is normally home to soccer squad Club Deportivo Guadalajara.

The 55-year-old Cardyn expects the U.S. to led the way in the medal race once again, while Brazil and Cuba should put up stiff opposition.

"The competition is going to be very, very hard this time, because Brazil is preparing very well for the upcoming Games in 2016, so they have a huge team," Cardyn said. "We can see it the way they are in the village, the way they act, they have much more preparation than they used to have."

Curt Harnett, the team's assistant chef de mission, predicts a strong showing from Mexico.

"It's their home country and home Games and I would expect them to perform better than they have in the past," said the former Olympic cycling medallist. "But just from a sense from walking around the village, Brazil is taking this very serious. I would be looking at how Brazil performs."

A week into a new NHL season, and at the height of the baseball playoffs, Harnett was asked why Canadian sports fans should be looking at all.

"The importance of the Pan Ams is the tail-wag from Vancouver [2010 Olympics]. Canadians had that moment, that sense of pride, we actually do care how our athletes perform on the international stage and there are few opportunities to get to know these athletes, and it's moments like this that give us that chance," he said.

"This is a preamble for what we should see in the big show, and it's something that, like true sports fans, it's a great opportunity for us to get to know them just a little bit more."

The Pan Am Games, the second-largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics, bring together some 6,000 athletes from 42 countries to compete in every Olympic sport, plus several non-Olympic sports such as water-skiing and squash.

Canada's flag-bearer, soccer star Christine Sinclair, was to lead Canada's team of 493 athletes into the Omnilife Stadium for a festive opening ceremonies on the eve of Day 1 of competition. Eleven medals are up for grabs Saturday, including five in swimming.

Anqi Luo, a table tennis player from Mississauga, Ont., is Canada's youngest athlete at 15, while show jumper Ian Millar, at age 64, is the team's oldest.

After three days of rain, the remnants of hurricane Jova that lashed Mexico's Pacific coast and killed at least five people, the Games opened under blue skies. Guadalajara had been a soggy mess only a day earlier, and Cardyn said Canadian officials had to move boxes of equipment out of a partially-flooded basement of the athletes village.

"The Games are running pretty smooth, for sure we had the Jova emergency that was keeping us busy, but now that it's over and it's sunny," he said.

Security will be a concern throughout the Games in a country racked by drug violence over the last five years. As Harnett spoke Friday, an army helicopter buzzed by overhead.

Harnett said the athletes have been cautioned about travelling the city.

"You make sure the kids understand that's something they need to be concerned about," he said.

Eating carefully is also key, said Canada's medical officer Dr. Andrew Marshall, after five players on Mexico's men's soccer team had positive doping tests. The steroids in Mexico's beef were blamed.

"[Pan Am Games officials] have reasssured us — and this has been known for over a year — they have special herds of cattle that they've developed in this region and they've made sure they have very strict controls, that they're all being treated well and there's no contamination," Marshall said.

Omnilife Stadium is the crown jewel of the Games' venues, and will host the soccer final as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

The stadium's first match was a friendly between Guadalajara and Manchester United in the summer of 2010, a game marked by the symbolic crossing over of Javier Hernandez from Guadalajara to United. Hernandez played the first half for the home team and the second half for his new club United.