Sport in Chile

Marcelo Ríos was the first Latin American tennis player to be number one in the world, after defeating Andre Agassi in 1998.[1] He was also honored by the General Directorate of Sports and Recreation as the Chilean sportsman of the 20th Century.[2]

Sports in Chile are performed at both amateur and professional levels, practiced both at home and abroad to develop and improve, or simply represent the country. Association football is the most popular sport in Chile, and is played for a range of reasons.[3] However, the country's most successful sport is tennis.[4] In rural areas, Chilean rodeo is the most practiced sport in Chile, which is the national sport.[5] Chile has achieved great international success in other sports, and there have been important figures, however, such exploits are not known to the general population because they are not sports that have been popular throughout the country.

The country has experience as host of major global sporting events such as the 1959 Basketball World Cup, 1962 FIFA World Cup, 1992 and 2015 World Polo Championships and multisport events: 1986 and 2014 South American Games and the 2023 Pan American Games.

  1. ^ Marcelo Ríos #1 del mundo: A 10 años de su mayor acto de magia Archived 2009-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, prensatenis.cl. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  2. ^ Los mejores del Siglo XX, Deportes-Canal13, January 10, 2000 Archived May 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Chile, nettspansk.uib.no. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
  4. ^ Tenis Chileno, punto de quiebre, Televisión Nacional de Chile. Retrieved January 15, 2009. Archived November 9, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Conozca los orígenes del rodeo chileno y la falta de recursos que le aqueja Archived 2011-11-15 at the Wayback Machine, Proaraucanía, September 13, 2007