Panam Sports

Pan American Sports Organization

Member countries are in green
Formation	1940
Type	Continental Sports Organization
Headquarters	Mexico City, Mexico
Membership	41 National Olympic Committees
Official language	English, Spanish, French
President	Neven Ilić Álvarez
Website	panamsports.org

The Pan American Sports Organization (Panam Sports; Spanish: Organización Deportiva Panamericana) is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee and its affiliated bodies, including ANOC, the Association of National Olympic Committees, and serves as the continental association of the Americas.

The organization's flagship event is the quadrennial Pan American Games, held since 1951. The Parapan American Games were inaugurated in 1999 for disabled athletes and are held alongside the able-bodied Pan American Games. The Pan American Winter Games, for winter sports, were held only once in 1990. The Pan American Sports Festival was inaugurated in 2014 as a developmental event for the region's athletes.

Affiliated organizations

There are four regional entities affiliated with Panam Sports, they are:

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

Flag

Just like the International Olympic Committee, Panam Sports has its own flag. In 2017, Panam Sports underwent a complete rebranding of the organization, including changes to its commercial name (now Panam Sports), brand and flag. The modern design emphasizes the unity of Panam Sports' 41 member nations, displaying the entire continent within a seal that features the new commercial name 'Panam Sports' at the top and 'Organization' at the bottom. The Olympic Rings reside below the seal, symbolizing the continental organization's close relationship with the IOC and the Olympic Games. The seal and accompanying rings are centered on the white background of the flag.

The original flag of PASO-ODEPA contained the four words, "América", "Espírito", "Sports" and "Fraternité", each respectively in one of the four official languages of the organization, namely Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. The original flag also displayed a torch along with the Olympic Rings and five circles with the official colors of the Olympics on a white background. Finally, the words PASO and ODEPA were written to indicate the organization the flag represents.

Member countries

In the following table, the year in which the NOC was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is also given if it is different from the year in which the NOC was created.

Nation	Code	National Olympic Committee	Created/Recognised	Region	Ref.
Antigua and Barbuda	ANT	The Antigua and Barbuda Olympic Association	1966/1976	Caribbean	[1]
Argentina	ARG	Argentine Olympic Committee	1923	South America	[2]
Aruba	ARU	Aruban Olympic Committee	1985/1986	Caribbean/South American	[3]
Bahamas	BAH	Bahamas Olympic Committee	1952	Caribbean	[4]
Barbados	BAR	Barbados Olympic Association	1955	Caribbean	[5]
Belize	BIZ	Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association	1967	Central America/Caribbean	[6]
Bermuda	BER	Bermuda Olympic Association	1935/1936	North America/Caribbean	[7]
Bolivia	BOL	Bolivian Olympic Committee	1932/1936	South America/Bolivarian	[8]
Brazil	BRA	Brazilian Olympic Committee	1914/1935	South America	[9]
British Virgin Islands	IVB	British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	1980/1982	Caribbean	[10]
Canada	CAN	Canadian Olympic Committee	1904/1907	North America	[11]
Cayman Islands	CAY	Cayman Islands Olympic Committee	1973/1976	Caribbean	[12]
Chile	CHI	Chilean Olympic Committee	1934	South America	[13]
Colombia	COL	Colombian Olympic Committee	1936/1948	South America/Caribbean/Bolivarian	[14]
Costa Rica	CRC	Costa Rican Olympic Committee	1953/1954	Central America/Caribbean/	[15]
Cuba	CUB	Cuban Olympic Committee	1926/1954	Caribbean	[16]
Dominica	DMA	Dominica Olympic Committee	1987/1993	Caribbean	[17]
Dominican Republic	DOM	Dominican Republic Olympic Committee	1946/1962	Caribbean	[18]
Ecuador	ECU	Ecuadorian National Olympic Committee	1948/1959	South America/Bolivarian	[19]
El Salvador	ESA	El Salvador Olympic Committee	1949/1962	Central America/Caribbean	[20]
Grenada	GRN	Grenada Olympic Committee	1984	Caribbean	[21]
Guatemala	GUA	Guatemalan Olympic Committee	1947	Central America/Caribbean	[22]
Guyana	GUY	Guyana Olympic Association	1935/1948	South America/Caribbean	[23]
Haiti	HAI	Haitian Olympic Committee	1914/1924	Caribbean	[24]
Honduras	HON	Honduran Olympic Committee	1956	Central America/Caribbean	[25]
Jamaica	JAM	Jamaica Olympic Association	1936	Caribbean	[26]
Mexico	MEX	Mexican Olympic Committee	1923	North America/Caribbean	[27]
Nicaragua	NCA	Nicaraguan Olympic Committee	1959	Central America/Caribbean	[28]
Panama	PAN	Panama Olympic Committee	1934/1947	South America/Central America/Caribbean/Bolivarian	[29]
Paraguay	PAR	Paraguayan Olympic Committee	1970	South America	[30]
Peru	PER	Peruvian Olympic Committee	1924/1936	South America/Bolivarian	[31]
Puerto Rico	PUR	Puerto Rico Olympic Committee	1948	Caribbean	[32]
Saint Kitts and Nevis	SKN	St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee	1986/1993	Caribbean	[33]
Saint Lucia	LCA	Saint Lucia Olympic Committee	1987/1993	Caribbean	[34]
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VIN	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee	1982/1987	Caribbean	[35]
Suriname	SUR	Suriname Olympic Committee	1959	South America/Caribbean	[36]
Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee	1946/1948	Caribbean	[37]
United States	USA	United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee	1894	North America	[38]
Uruguay	URU	Uruguayan Olympic Committee	1923	South America	[39]
Venezuela	VEN	Venezuelan Olympic Committee	1935	South America/Caribbean/Bolivarian	[40]
Virgin Islands	ISV	Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	1967	Caribbean	[41]

Former member: Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee

There are some areas not a part of Panam Sports as they are not independent nations:

• Curaçao, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten are part of the Caribbean Netherlands since 2010. With the dissolution of Netherlands Antilles later in that year, the athletes from these territories were allowed to compete at the 2011 Pan American Games with the older denomination. This also happened with these athletes at 2012 Summer Olympics, but they are part of the Independent Olympic Athletes team. Since 2013, these territories were absorbed by the Aruban Olympic Committee
• Turks and Caicos, Montserrat, Anguila, Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands are British territories without internal autonomy and so failed to create their national Olympic committees and so are not members of PanAm Sports.
• Guadeloupe, Martinica, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint-Martin and French Guiana are not a members of Panam Sports as they are Overseas departments of France. Nevertheless, French Guiana participated in the 1951 Pan American Games. Guadeloupe and Martinique also competed at the 2003 Games as guests at the shooting events.
• Greenland is an autonomous country within Denmark and politically associated with Europe, therefore it is the only North American country not involved in Panam Sports.

Panam Sports Presidents

S. No.	Name	Country	Tenure
1.	Mr. Avery Brundage	United States	1940–1951
2.	Mr. José de Jesús Clark Flores	Mexico	1951–1955
3.	Mr. Doug Roby	United States	1955–1959
4.	Mr. José de Jesús Clark Flores	Mexico	1959–1971
5.	Mr. Sylvio de Magalhaes Padilha1	Brazil	1971–1971
6.	Mr. José Beracasa	Venezuela	1971–1975
7.	Mr. Mario Vázquez Raña	Mexico	1975–2015
8.	Mr. Ivar Sisniega	Mexico	2015–2015
9.	Mr. Julio César Maglione	Uruguay	2015–2017
10.	Mr. Neven Ilic Álvarez	Chile	2017–present

^1 Served as acting president for two months until new election.

Panam Sports Athlete Commission

In 2011, a new Panam Sports Athlete Commission was formed. Former Canadian Rhythmic Gymnast and three-time Pan American Games gold medalist Alexandra Orlando was selected the president of the commission. The commission will be made up of seven athletes (five current and two former) with two being reserved for non-Olympic sports.

Member	Country	Since	Pan American Games Participation
Alexandra Orlando	Canada	2011	2003–2007
Mijaín López	Cuba	2011	2003–2015
Samyr Laine	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 de 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	Future	-

Exclusion of indigenous sports

Despite criticisms that Ulama or Mesoamerican Ballgame and Lacrosse are not included in the program of the Pan American Games, the number of countries practicing the sport is too small for the sport to be added to the program. As of 2018, there are 15 national federations in the Americas affiliated with World Lacrosse with a minimum number of Panam Sports recognition being 14 (Bermuda, Canada, United States, Iroquois, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti). However, the Iroquois nation is not recognized by Panam Sports or the IOC. Thus, there are at this time 14 regional member nations of World Lacrosse, enough for the sport to be included in the Pan Am Games as early as 2023. Lacrosse is recognized by the Global Association of International Sports Federations and by the International Olympic Committee. However, this is not the case with ulama, which inhibits its participation in the Pan American Games. It is a possibility that lacrosse will be included in the program of the Games in the future.

See also

• Americas Paralympic Committee

External links

• Panam Sports Official Website