2010 Central American Games
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| Host city | Cities in Panama and El Salvador | ||
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| Nations participating | 6 | ||
| Athletes participating | 1.739 | ||
| Events | ? events in 23 sports | ||
| Opening ceremony | 9 April 2010 | ||
| Closing ceremony | 19 April 2010 | ||
| Officially opened by | Ricardo Martinelli | ||
| Athlete's Oath | Leonardo González | ||
| Torch lighter | Roberto Durán | ||
| Main venue | Estadio Rommel Fernández | ||
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The IX Central American Games (Spanish: IX Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos) was a multi-sport event that took place between 9 and 19 April 2010. The competition featured 23 sports which were contested at various venues, with Panama acting as the primary host country and El Salvador playing a supporting role.
The event was delayed twice: it was first set to take place in San Pedro Sula in December 2009, but was cancelled due to the 2009 Honduran political crisis, and a second delay occurred at the request of Panama (one of the replacement host countries), who could not keep to the agreed 2–14 March programme due to delays in the renovation of the Estadio Rommel Fernández (where the athletics events were due to be held).
On top of this, in November 2009, El Salvador ruled out the possibility of four sporting events (skating, archery, squash and bodybuilding) as a result of economic problems caused by the extensive flooding in the country that month. Nevertheless, on 10 January 2010, Melitón Sánchez, the president of the Organización Deportiva Centroamericana (ORDECA), announced that the events would go ahead as originally planned.
However, the change of the games schedule led the Union Centroamericana de Futbol (the Central American Union for association football) to instruct its member associations not to compete at the event, as it clashed with the more prestigious XXI Central American and Caribbean Games. Following the news, Guatemala – also previously designated as a supporting host country – pulled out of the event in protest of the decision to postpone the games until April. In reaction to this, El Salvador, through the Instituto Nacional de los Deportes de El Salvador, announced that it too would withdraw, although its Olympic Committee reversed the decision.
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