Ceremonies The opening ceremony of the Games took place on August 23, 2019, at the
Estadio Nacional de Lima while the closing ceremony took place on September 1, 2019, at the VIDENA Athletics Stadium. The opening ceremony was entitled Elevation and featured a stage designed as a totem, made by three obelisks. It was produced by Italian company Balich Worldwide Shows and directed by creative director Hansel Cereza. The closing ceremony was entitled Human Spirit and featured a stage with a backdrop of a mosaic of the faces of volunteers. It was produced by Italian company Balich Worldwide Shows and directed by creative director Juan Carlos Fisher.
Opening ceremony The Ceremony began with a countdown from 10 to 0 and the announcement of
President of Peru Martin Vizcarra and the President of
Americas Paralympic Committee, Julio César Ávila. The
Flag of Peru is raised by
Peruvian Armed Forces as the
National Anthem is played. This was followed by an introductory performance titled "The Birth" symbolising Peru's biodiversity and life. The performance was followed immediately by the Parade of Nations in which each teams marched into the stadium, preceded by a person dressed as
Ekeko carrying a chicha-style banner with the name of the country, similar to
Pan American Games. As per tradition, Peru as host entered last, while the other countries entered under Spanish Alphabetical order. Soon afterwards was the creative segments, divided into six segments: Symbiosis, The Maze, Chaos, Hope, The Horizon and Victory. All six segments told the story of two boys who grow up helping each other in the spirit of friendship and showing people their ability to overcome their disabilities. The boys as children were played by Jheremy Alejos Perez and Piero Guidiche Montes while the adult boys were played by Marco Antonio Moran and Jose Jesus Diaz Quispe. In the protocol segment, the President of the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee Carlos Neuhaus and the President of APC, Julio Dussliere deliver their speeches before President of Peru, Martin Vizcarra declare the Games open. The APC flag was carried into the stadium by former Peruvian sportsmen: Efraín Sotacuro, Alicia Flores, Yeni Vargas, Juana Hurtado, María Trujillo, Israel Hilario, Óscar Neyra and Augusto Vásquez and raised to the Paralympic Anthem by the Armed Forces. During the torch relay segment, the Parapan American flame is carried into the stadium by Peruvian Paralympian Pompilio Falconi, who competed in athletics at
Athens 2004,
Beijing 2008 and
London 2012. He passed the flame to table tennis player Teresa Chiappo, who then handed it to swimmer José González. Jose Gonzalez handed the flame to last torch bearer, Jimmy Eulert a gold medallist at the
Atlanta 1996 and Sydney
2000 Summer Paralympics who lights the Incan Sun cauldron with the help of the acrobats on the totem. The ceremony ended with a concert by Peruvian band "Bareto" who performed four songs: Quiero amanacer, Se ha muerto mi abuelo, No juegues con el diablo and Cariñito.
Parade of Nations Closing ceremony Katia Condos and
Gonzalo Torres were the hosts of the ceremony. The segments of the ceremony were inspired by the core values of the International Paralympic Movement which are: Inspiration, Determination, Courage and Equality and featured mostly concert and dance performances by local artists. During the ceremony, Laguna Pai performed three songs: Libertad, Vamos con fe and Resiliencia; We The Lion performed four songs: Found Love, All My Demons, So Fine and When Life Began; and Desiree Nunez Del Prado and Javier Morales performed a Marinera duet. After delivery of speech by President of the Organizing Committee Carlos Neuhaus and of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) Julio César Ávila, the Games were declared closed by APC president himself. Through President of the Americas Paralympic Committee, Julio César Ávila, Deputy Mayor of the city of Lima Miguel Eugenio Romero Sotelo handed the APC flag over to the Undersecretary of Sports of Chile, Andres Otero Klein for the next Parapan American Games in
2023. When the
flag of Chile is raised by armed forces personnel, the
National Anthem of Chile is performed by 14-year-old Cerebral Palsy female singer Isidora Guzmán, accompanied by images slideshow of the country's scenery. Chilean band Los Jaivas performed songs on stage to represent Chile as next host of the event. When Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón performed “Canción con todos” on stage, the Flame beside the stage was extinguished. The Ceremony ended with a concert by a cumbia group Hermanos Yaipén who performed five songs: Mix de Luis Miguel, El Tiki Taka, Al llorar a otra parte, Mix de Juan Gabriel and Que levante la mano.
Participating National Paralympic Committees 30
National Paralympic Committees have participated at the games including Guyana and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as debuting teams. Paraguay returned to participate after last competed in the 2007 edition, while Virgin Islands which last participated at the 2015 edition was absent.
Number of athletes by National Paralympic Committee Sports Events in 17 sports were held during the 2019 Parapan American Games. Cycling events was split into
road and
track disciplines. Team events
goalball,
sitting volleyball and
wheelchair basketball continued as men's and women's events,
wheelchair rugby continued to be a mixed event and
football 5-a-side and
football 7-a-side was only opened for male athletes. Badminton, taekwondo and para shooting made their debuts. Seven of the sports count as qualifying events for
2020 Summer Paralympics. •
Athletics (119) () •
Badminton (8) () •
Boccia (7) () •
Cycling () •
Road (13) •
Track (10) •
Football 5-a-side (1) () •
Football 7-a-side (1) () •
Goalball (2) () •
Judo (10) () •
Powerlifting (15) () •
Shooting (8) () •
Sitting volleyball (2) () •
Swimming (140) () •
Table tennis (20) () •
Taekwondo (6) () •
Wheelchair basketball (2) () •
Wheelchair rugby (1) () •
Wheelchair tennis (5) ()
Calendar == Medal table ==