Four Aruban athletes have delivered medal winning performances on one of South America’s biggest sporting stages, earning three silver medals and one bronze for Aruba at the XIII South American Games Santa Fe 2026.
Aruba may have arrived in Argentina with one of the smallest delegations at the Games, but TEAMARU has made its presence felt.
The XIII South American Games are taking place in Argentina from September 12 through September 26, 2026. More than 4,000 athletes from 15 countries are participating in the major multisport competition, with events centered in Santa Fe, Rosario and Rafaela, along with additional competition venues elsewhere in Argentina.
Aruba is represented by just 13 athletes.
Against delegations numbering in the hundreds from some of the continent’s largest countries, Aruba’s athletes have already brought home four medals, three silver and one bronze.
Even more remarkably, those medals have been won by just four Aruban athletes. Sisters Kamilah and Abigail Dammers reached the podium in bowling, while siblings Kaj and Zara Rozeboom earned medals in iQFOiL windsurfing.
Dammers Sisters Put Aruba on the Medal Table
Aruba’s first medal of Santa Fe 2026 came from the bowling lanes.
Kamilah Dammers and Abigail Dammers competed together in the women’s doubles competition at Norcenter in Vicente López, Buenos Aires, which served as the bowling venue for the South American Games.
The Aruban sisters produced a strong performance to capture the silver medal in women’s doubles.
Colombia’s Juliana Franco and María Rodríguez took gold, while Aruba’s Dammers sisters finished second. Venezuela’s Patricia De Faria and Karen Marcano completed the podium with bronze.
The silver was particularly significant because it put Aruba on the medal table at Santa Fe 2026.
The South American Sports Organization, ODESUR, highlighted the achievement as Aruba’s first medal of these Games. Aruba had entered Santa Fe 2026 with 22 medals from its previous appearances at the South American Games, consisting of two gold, five silver and 15 bronze medals.
Kamilah Dammers was not finished.
She returned for the women’s individual bowling competition and once again reached the podium, this time earning the bronze medal.
Colombia swept the top two positions in the event, with Juliana Franco taking gold and María Rodríguez earning silver. Dammers finished third to secure another medal for Aruba.
That meant Kamilah completed the bowling competition with two medals, a silver alongside her sister Abigail in the doubles and a bronze in the individual event.
Bowling at Santa Fe 2026 was contested from September 15 through September 19, with the competition taking place at the Buenos Aires venue.
Aruba Adds Two More Silver Medals on the Water
Aruba’s medal success extended beyond bowling and onto the water.
Kaj Rozeboom and Zara Rozeboom represented Aruba in iQFOiL, the windsurfing discipline used in Olympic competition.
The sailing competition was staged on Laguna Setúbal in Santa Fe, with Aruba represented in both the men’s and women’s iQFOiL events.
Both Rozeboom siblings reached the podium.
In the women’s iQFOiL competition, Zara Rozeboom earned the silver medal for Aruba. Peru’s María Belén Bazo took gold, while Argentina’s Chiara Ferretti finished with bronze.
In the men’s iQFOiL competition, Kaj Rozeboom also captured silver. Brazil’s Guilherme Trainini Plentz won the gold medal, while Argentina’s Joaquín Reutemann took bronze.
The results gave Aruba two additional silver medals and brought TEAMARU’s total to four medals, three silver and one bronze.
Four Athletes Bring Home Four Medals for TEAMARU
Four of Aruba’s 13 athletes at Santa Fe 2026 have been responsible for the country’s medal winning performances.
Kamilah Dammers earned silver in the women’s bowling doubles together with her sister Abigail and added a bronze medal in the women’s individual bowling competition.
Abigail Dammers earned silver alongside Kamilah in the women’s doubles.
Zara Rozeboom captured silver in the women’s iQFOiL competition, while her brother Kaj Rozeboom earned silver in the men’s iQFOiL competition.
Because the doubles bowling silver is one medal event shared by Kamilah and Abigail Dammers, Aruba’s official medal count stands at four medals, consisting of three silver and one bronze.
For a delegation consisting of only 13 athletes, the results represent an important showing on the continental stage.
The contrast in delegation sizes also puts Aruba’s participation into perspective. At the opening of the Games, some of the larger participating nations arrived with delegations numbering in the hundreds. Aruba entered the Games with only 13 athletes.
Yet TEAMARU has succeeded in reaching the podium in two very different sports.
A Major Continental Sporting Event
The South American Games are organized under the umbrella of ODESUR, the South American Sports Organization, and bring together the organization’s 15 National Olympic Committees.
Santa Fe 2026 is the 13th edition of the Games.
The participating delegations are Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Curaçao, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The official competition runs from September 12 through September 26, with more than 4,000 athletes taking part across a broad program of sports and disciplines.
For many competitors, Santa Fe 2026 also forms an important part of the road toward the next major events in the Olympic cycle, including the Lima 2027 Pan American Games.
An Extremely Busy 2026 for Aruba’s Olympic Movement
Santa Fe is only one chapter in an exceptionally active year for the Aruba Olympic Committee and TEAMARU.
Earlier in 2026, Aruba participated in the IV South American Youth Games Panama 2026, which took place from April 12 through April 25.
Those Games brought together more than 2,000 young athletes from 15 countries. Aruba sent a 13 athlete youth delegation competing across six sports, swimming, triathlon, athletics, taekwondo, artistic gymnastics and chess.
Later in the year came another major event on Aruba’s sporting calendar, the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games Santo Domingo 2026 in the Dominican Republic.
Those Games officially ran from July 24 through August 8.
The South American Games in Argentina followed in September, giving TEAMARU another opportunity to represent Aruba internationally.
The year is not over.
Next Stop, Dakar 2026
Another major Olympic event awaits later this year, the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal.
The fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games are scheduled for October 31 through November 13, 2026, marking a historic moment for the Olympic Movement as the Youth Olympic Games are staged on the African continent for the first time.
Dakar 2026 will bring together a new generation of young athletes in an event combining elite youth competition with the wider educational and cultural ideals of the Olympic Movement.
For the Aruba Olympic Committee, it represents another important international event in a year already filled with competition and opportunities for Aruban athletes.
Looking Ahead to Lima 2027
Beyond Dakar, attention will increasingly turn toward another major continental event, the XX Pan American Games Lima 2027.
The Pan American Games are officially scheduled to take place in Lima, Peru, from July 23 through August 8, 2027.
Thousands of athletes from across the Americas are expected to compete in dozens of sports and disciplines.
For Aruba and its athletes, Lima 2027 will therefore represent another major milestone in the international sporting cycle.
Small Delegation, Big Presence
Aruba’s performance at Santa Fe 2026 demonstrates that the size of a country’s delegation does not determine its ability to compete for medals.
Among more than 4,000 athletes at the Games, just 13 are representing Aruba.
Among those 13, four athletes have already stood on the podium.
Kamilah and Abigail Dammers delivered Aruba’s breakthrough in bowling. Kamilah added an individual bronze of her own. Kaj and Zara Rozeboom then each secured silver in iQFOiL.
Together, their performances have given TEAMARU three silver medals and one bronze medal at Santa Fe 2026.
The achievement also adds to Aruba’s history at the South American Games. Before Santa Fe 2026, Aruba had accumulated 22 medals in the competition’s history. The four medals earned at this edition add another chapter to that record.
For the Aruba Olympic Committee, 2026 has already stretched from the South American Youth Games in Panama to the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo and now to the South American Games in Argentina. Dakar 2026 still lies ahead, followed by another important continental year in 2027.
At Santa Fe 2026, TEAMARU’s athletes have made sure that Aruba, despite being represented by only 13 competitors, has a place on the South American Games medal table.
With the Games continuing through September 26, Aruba’s Santa Fe 2026 story is not officially finished yet. But three silver medals and one bronze have already made this edition a memorable one for TEAMARU and Aruban sport.
