Despite lacking the world's top athletes, the athletic standard of the Pan American Games has improved, a United States sports official said on Monday.
"The quality of competition here has improved over the last four years," said Steve Roush, Chief of Sport Performance of US Olympic Committee (USOC).
"I think it's difficult to win medals where we used to win over 300 medals. It becomes more difficult because other countries now are much better."
The US leads the medal count with 147 medals, including 60 gold, after Monday's competition. Cuba is second with 31-14-20, and host Brazil third with 29-23-39. A total of 121 gold medals are still at stake before the Pan America Games close on Sunday.
At the last Pan Ams in 2003, the United States finished with the most medals, winning 271 overall and 115 golds. Four year before that, the United States won 106 gold medals and 296 total.
However, Roush admitted that the US puts Olympic qualification as its top priority at the Pan Ams rather than the number of medals they win in Rio.
"We like a lot of medals, but that's not our primary focus. (For us,) First priority is Olympic qualification. Second priority is good performances," he told Xinhua.
A number of sports at the Pan Ams, including equestrian, shooting, field hockey and handball, award qualifying berths for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Roush said that regarding performances that have to do with either points or quotas or team qualification, American athletes have done a good job.
"In shooting, we had 22 Olympic quotas, which is the maximum that we could get. In women's water polo, in men's and women's triathlon, we also qualified," he said.
"We are happy with that. I hope that continues."
More than 5,000 athletes from 42 countries and regions are attending the Pan Ams, but in many sports including athletics and swimming, there are few stars competing. The United States is bringing 'B' teams that will still be good enough to win most of the medals.
Source: Xinhua
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