1973 Central American Games
# 1973 Central American Games

The I Central American Games (Spanish: I Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos) was a multi-sport event that took place between 24 November - 2 December 1973.

The games were officially opened by Guatemalan Education Minister Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre. Long distance runner Mateo Flores was honoured to light the torch in the stadium bearing his name. The flame was ignited before in Q'umarkaj, one of the ancient cultural Mayan centers located in El Quiché, Guatemala.

María del Milagro París from Costa Rica won 13 gold and 1 silver medals in the swimming contests, and was chosen as the best athlete of the games by the journalists.

## Participation

Athletes from 6 countries were reported to participate:

* Costa Rica
* El Salvador
* Guatemala
* Honduras
* Nicaragua
* Panamá

## Sports

The competition featured 16 sports.

* Aquatic sports (details)
   * Swimming (details)
* Athletics (details)
* Basketball (details)
* Boxing (details)
* Cycling (details)
* Equestrian (details)
* Fencing (details)
* Football (details)
* Judo (details)
* Shooting (details)
* Softball (details)
* Table tennis (details)
* Tennis (details)
* Volleyball (details)
* Weightlifting (details)
* Wrestling (details)

## Medal table

The table below is taken from El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador, from El Nuevo Diario, Managua, Nicaragua, and from the archives of La Nación, San José, Costa Rica.

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Panama (PAN) | 68 | 38 | 32 | 138 |
| 2 | Guatemala (GUA) | 36 | 49 | 45 | 130 |
| 3 | Costa Rica (CRC) | 29 | 24 | 32 | 85 |
| 4 | El Salvador (ESA) | 24 | 29 | 34 | 87 |
| 5 | Nicaragua (NCA) | 5 | 12 | 12 | 29 |
| 6 | Honduras (HON) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Totals (6 entries) | Totals (6 entries) | 163 | 154 | 155 | 472 |
