Pan Am Games Expands Swimmer Cap in Attempt to Solve Qualification Confusion

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, October 4. SWIMMING World has obtained a document distributed to the Pan American Games participating countries explaining some recent confusion regarding qualifying for the meet.

Citing a "lack of precision by UANA in the method to select participants in swimming competitions," the local organizing committee stated that countries had submitted a total of 304 entries, 48 more than the cap of swimmers initially set at 256. Some of these overage entries had also qualified with A standards, which are considered to be automatic qualifying standards.

After analyzing the situation, meet organizers in consultation with FINA's Dr. Julio Maglione, decided to increase the cap to include those swimmers that automatically qualified, but were considered an overage against the initial cap of 256 swimmers. That increase brought an additional 14 swimmers into the field. Additionally, eight more relay-only swimmers were added to the field, bringing the total tally of qualifiers to 278.

However, earlier reporting by Swimming World South American correspondent Alex Pussieldi stated that 176 swimmers, with an initial overall tally of 432, were enrolled in the Pan American Games field. The local organizing committee disputes this number, stating that the original list was a "list of possible qualified athletes" and included swimmers who also made only the provisional B standard.

A-Standard Swimming Added to Field
Daniela van den Berg (ARU)
Alica Lightbourne (BAH)
Amara Gibbs (BAR)
Lisa Blackburn (VER)
Lara Butler (CAY)
Isabel Riquelma (CHI)
Maria Coy (GUA)
Ana Castellanos (HON)
Karen Vilorio (HON)
Patricia Quevedo (PER)
Maria Torres (PER)
Oriele Espinosa (PER)
Patricia Castellas (PUR)
Trysha Centeno (PUR)

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