In the end, Pan American Sports Organization President Mario Vasquez Rana uttered the words many Tapatios were so anxious to hear: “I declare the Pan American Games in Guadalajara the best in history.”

What was abundantly clear even well before the two-week multi-sport event concluded on Sunday was that Mexico’s medal haul was indeed the best in the nation’s history – by a long chalk.

Before the games, Mexican sports authorities had set a target of 80 medals, including 24 golds. The final tally: 133 medals (42 gold, 41 silver, 50 bronze).  Mexico even beat Canada into fourth place in the medal table, behind the United States (1st place), Cuba (2nd) and Brazil (3rd).

Canadian officials declared themselves satisfied with their total of 30 gold, 40 silver and 49 bronze medals. Canadian Olympic Committee President Marcel Aubut said the team had done well to cement eight of the 12 qualification spots available for the 2012 London Olympics, one of the major aims of the games.

Team USA easily topped the Pan Am rankings once again with 236 medals (92 gold, 79 silver, 65 bronze), exactly 100 more than Cuba, whose competitors made a late rally to dominate the track-and-field and boxing disciplines.

Despite problems in the lead up to the Guadalajara games, the event went off with scarcely a hitch.  Traffic flowed freely, the venues stood up to the test, the timekeeping was spot on and the multitude of volunteers carried out their specific tasks responsibly and with smiles on their faces.

But what really made the games such a success was the passion of the Mexican crowds, who while naturally patriotic, were always willing to applaud and cheer athletes from other countries, even those from their northern neighbor!  The only blemish on an otherwise very well organized games was the ticket allocation muddle that saw many seats unoccupied as eager fans waited outside venues for a chance to get in.