Panam Sports

Panam Sports, officially called the Pan American Sports Organization, is an international group that represents the 41 National Olympic Committees from North, Central, and South America. It works closely with the International Olympic Committee and other big sports groups to support Olympic sports in the Americas.

One of the most important events organized by Panam Sports is the Pan American Games, which happen every four years. The first Pan American Games were held in 1951. In 1999, the Parapan American Games were started for disabled athletes, and they are held at the same time as the main Pan American Games. There was also a special event called the Pan American Winter Games for winter sports, but it was only held once in 1990. In 2014, Panam Sports began another event called the Pan American Sports Festival to help develop young athletes in the region.

Affiliated organizations

Panam Sports works with four regional groups that help organize special sports events. These groups are:

• CACSO (ODECABE) – organizers of the Central American and Caribbean Games
• ODEBO – organizers of the Bolivarian Games
• ODESUR – organizers of the South American Games
• ORDECA – organizers of the Central American Games

Official languages

The Pan American Sports Organization uses two official languages: English and Spanish. These languages help connect people from all over the Americas in sports events.

Flag

Just like the International Olympic Committee, Panam Sports has its own flag. In 2017, Panam Sports updated its look, including its name, brand, and flag. The new design shows the unity of its 41 member nations, with both continents inside a seal. The words 'Panam Sports' are at the top, and 'Organization' is at the bottom. The Olympic Rings are below the seal, showing the close link between Panam Sports and the Olympic Games. The seal and rings are centered on a white background.

The old flag had the words "AMÉRICA, ESPÍRITO, SPORT, FRATERNITÉ" in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French. It also showed a torch, the Olympic Rings, and five circles with the Olympic colors on a white background. The words PASO and ODEPA were written to show the organization the flag represented.

Member nations

The table below shows the member nations of Panam Sports and the year each was recognized by the International Olympic Committee, if different from when it was created.

Some places are not members of Panam Sports because they are not independent countries:

• Anguilla, the Falkland Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands are parts of Britain and could not form their own National Olympic Committees.
• Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten are parts of the Dutch Caribbean. Since 2013, athletes from these areas now compete for Aruba.
• French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon are parts of France and are not members.
• Greenland is part of Denmark and is the only area in Northern America not part of Panam Sports.

Nation	Code	National Olympic Committee	President	Created/Recognised	IOC member	Subregion
Antigua and Barbuda	ANT	Antigua and Barbuda National Olympic Committee	E.P. Chet Greene	1966/1976	Yes	Caribbean
Argentina	ARG	Argentine Olympic Committee	Mario Moccia	1923	Yes	South America
Aruba	ARU	Aruban Olympic Committee	Wanda Broeksema	1985/1986	Yes	Caribbean/South America
Bahamas	BAH	Bahamas Olympic Committee	Romell Knowles	1952	Yes	Caribbean
Barbados	BAR	Barbados Olympic Association	Sandra Osborne	1955	Yes	Caribbean
Belize	BIZ	Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association	Hilberto Martínez	1967	Yes	Central America/Caribbean
Bermuda	BER	Bermuda Olympic Association	Peter Dunne	1935/1936	Yes	Northern America
Bolivia	BOL	Bolivian Olympic Committee	Marco Antonio Arze Mendoza	1932/1936	Yes	South America/Bolivarian
Brazil	BRA	Brazilian Olympic Committee	Marco Antônio La Porta	1914/1935	Yes	South America
British Virgin Islands	IVB	British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	Ephraim Penn	1980/1982	Yes	Caribbean
Canada	CAN	Canadian Olympic Committee	Tricia Smith	1904/1907	Yes	Northern America
Cayman Islands	CAY	Cayman Islands Olympic Committee	Lorette Powell (acting)	1973/1976	Yes	Caribbean
Chile	CHI	Chilean Olympic Committee	Miguel Ángel Mujica	1934	Yes	South America/Bolivarian
Colombia	COL	Colombian Olympic Committee	Ciro Solano Hurtado	1936/1948	Yes	South America/Caribbean/Bolivarian
Costa Rica	CRC	Costa Rican Olympic Committee	Alexánder Zamora Gomez	1953/1954	Yes	Central America/Caribbean
Cuba	CUB	Cuban Olympic Committee	Roberto León Richards Aguiar	1926/1954	Yes	Caribbean
Dominica	DMA	Dominica Olympic Committee	Billy Doctrove	1987/1993	Yes	Caribbean
Dominican Republic	DOM	Dominican Republic Olympic Committee	Antonio Acosta Corletto	1946/1962	Yes	Caribbean/Bolivarian
Ecuador	ECU	Ecuadorian National Olympic Committee	Cap. Jorge Delgado Panchana	1948/1959	Yes	South America/Bolivarian
El Salvador	ESA	El Salvador Olympic Committee	Jose Armando Bruni Ochoa	1949/1962	Yes	Central America/Bolivarian
Grenada	GRN	Grenada Olympic Committee	Cheney Joseph	1984	Yes	Caribbean
Guatemala	GUA	Guatemalan Olympic Committee	Gerardo Aguirre	1947	Yes	Central America/Caribbean/Bolivarian
Guyana	GUY	Guyana Olympic Association	Kalam Azad Juman-Yassin	1935/1948	Yes	South America
Haiti	HAI	Haitian Olympic Committee	Hans Larsen	1914/1924	Yes	Caribbean
Honduras	HON	Honduran Olympic Committee	José Ubaldo Zavala Valladares	1956	Yes	Central America/Caribbean
Jamaica	JAM	Jamaica Olympic Association	Christopher Samuda	1936	Yes	Caribbean
Mexico	MEX	Mexican Olympic Committee	María José Alcalá	1923	Yes	Central America/Caribbean
Nicaragua	NCA	Nicaraguan Olympic Committee	Emmett Lang Salmerón	1959	Yes	Central America/Caribbean
Panama	PAN	Panama Olympic Committee	Camilo Amado	1934/1947	Yes	Central America/Caribbean/South America/Bolivarian
Paraguay	PAR	Paraguayan Olympic Committee	Camilo Pérez López Moreira	1970	Yes	South America/Bolivarian
Peru	PER	Peruvian Olympic Committee	Renzo Manyari	1924/1936	Yes	South America/Bolivarian
Puerto Rico	PUR	Puerto Rico Olympic Committee	Sara Rosario	1948	Yes	Caribbean
Saint Kitts and Nevis	SKN	Saint Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee	Alphonso Bridgewater	1986/1993	Yes	Caribbean
Saint Lucia	LCA	Saint Lucia Olympic Committee	Alfred Emmanuel	1987/1993	Yes	Caribbean
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VIN	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee	George Trevor Bailey	1982/1987	Yes	Caribbean
Suriname	SUR	Suriname Olympic Committee	Ramon Tjon-A-Fat	1959	Yes	South America
Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee	Diane Henderson	1946/1948	Yes	Caribbean
United States	USA	United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee	Gene Sykes	1894	Yes	Northern America
Uruguay	URU	Uruguayan Olympic Committee	Julio César Maglione	1923	Yes	South America
Venezuela	VEN	Venezuelan Olympic Committee	Eduardo Álvarez Camacho	1935	Yes	South America/Caribbean/Bolivarian
U.S. Virgin Islands	ISV	Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	Angel L. Morales	1967	Yes	Caribbean

Presidents

Served as acting president for two months until a new election.

S. No.	Name	Country	Tenure
1.	Avery Brundage	United States	1948–1951
2.	José de Jesús Clark Flores	Mexico	1951–1955
3.	Doug Roby	United States	1955–1959
4.	José de Jesús Clark Flores	Mexico	1959–1971
5.	Sylvio de Magalhaes Padilha1	Brazil	1971–1971
6.	José Beracasa	Venezuela	1971–1975
7.	Mario Vázquez Raña	Mexico	1975–2015
8.	Ivar Sisniega	Mexico	2015–2015
9.	Julio César Maglione	Uruguay	2015–2017
10.	Neven Ilic	Chile	2017–present

Athlete Commission

In 2011, a new group called the Panam Sports Athlete Commission was created. Alexandra Orlando, a former Canadian rhythmic gymnast who won three gold medals at the Pan American Games, was chosen to lead this group. The commission includes seven athletes—five who are still competing and two who have finished their careers. Two spots are saved for athletes from sports that are not part of the Olympic Games.

Member	Country	Since	Pan American Games Participation
Alexandra Orlando	Canada	2011	2003–2007
Mijaín López	Cuba	2011	2003–2019
Samyr Lainé	Haiti	2011	2003–2011
Andrea Estrada	Guatemala	2011	2011
Guillermo Perez	Mexico	2011	2011
Pedro Causil	Colombia	2011	2011
Shannon Nishi	United States	2011	2011

Debut of countries per Games

Games	Host	Year	Debuting Countries	Total
I	Buenos Aires	1951	Argentina,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa Rica,  Cuba,  Ecuador,  El Salvador,  Guatemala,  Haiti,  Jamaica,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Panama,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Trinidad and Tobago,  United States,  Uruguay,  Venezuela.	20
II	Mexico City	1955	Bahamas,  Canada,  Dominican Republic,  Netherlands Antilles,  Puerto Rico.	5
III	Chicago	1959	Guyana.	1
IV	São Paulo	1963	Barbados.	1
V	Winnipeg	1967	Belize,  Bolivia,  Bermuda,  Virgin Islands.	4
VI	Cali	1971	–	0
VII	Mexico City	1975	Honduras.	1
VIII	San Juan	1979	Antigua and Barbuda.	1
IX	Caracas	1983	British Virgin Islands,  Suriname.	2
X	Indianapolis	1987	Aruba,  Cayman Islands,  Grenada.	3
XI	Havana	1991	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.	1
XII	Mar del Plata	1995	Dominica,  Saint Kitts and Nevis,  Saint Lucia.	3
XIII	Winnipeg	1999	–	0
XIV	Santo Domingo	2003	–	0
XV	Rio de Janeiro	2007	–	0
XVI	Guadalajara	2011	–	0
XVII	Toronto	2015	–	0
XVIII	Lima	2019	-	0
XIX	Santiago	2023	-	0
XX	Lima	2027	Future	-
XXI	-	2031	Future	-

Exclusion of indigenous sports

Some traditional games like Ulama, the Mesoamerican Ballgame, and Lacrosse are not part of the Pan American Games because not enough countries in the Americas play them. As of 2023, 14 countries have groups for Lacrosse, which is enough for it to possibly join the Games in the future, maybe as early as 2027 or 2031. Lacrosse will also be played in a smaller version at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. However, Ulama has too few countries playing it to be added to the Pan American Games right now.