The Pan-american games are a continental version of the Olympic Games which includes the Olympic Program sports and others that are not part of the Olympics. Conducted every four years, always one year before the Olympic Games, the first Pan-American Games were held in 1951, in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. However, its origin dates back to 1932, year of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Inspired by the holding of the first Central American Games six years earlier, the Latin American representatives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) proposed the creation of a competition that would include all the countries in the Americas, for the purpose of strengthening sport activities in the region.

Over more than 50 years, the Pan-american Games never failed to occur, and have been held in cities in every corner of the continent. From the extreme north, like Winnipeg (Canada) to the south, like Mar del Plata (Argentina), the PanAm Games also visited Mexico City (Mexico), Chicago (USA), Cali (Colombia), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Caracas (Venezuela), Indianapolis (USA), and Havana (Cuba). Not to mention Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, which had the honor of being the next host city.

The Pan-american Games have been growing in size and importance with as edition of the event occurs. In less than half a century, the event has doubled in number of countries (to 42), athletes, and sports, becoming one of the main events in the world’s sports calendar. In the 1951 edition they started with 19 disciplines, and in 2003 in Santo Domingo it featured 35 disciplines.

The delegation of the Netherlands Antilles brought a bronze medal (Karate) home from the last PanAm Games in St. Domingo. It is worth mentioning however that the track & field relay team (men 4×100) broke the Antillean record.

In the 2007 edition (Rio de Janeiro) Churandy Martina won the  gold medal on the 100m Track & Field

The Oldest Regional Games – History of CACSO

The History of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization is tied to the history of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Games. These are the oldest regional games, and it was during the planning stages of the IX Games that CACSO was born.

Taken from the history of the IX Games, as published in Los Juegos Regionales Más Antiguos by Enrique Montesinos:

“When a meeting of the General Assembly of Delegates took place in Caracas, it was informed that there had been no bid for venue. After the debate, it was agreed to grant it to Puerto Rico, with the particularity of having the vote of Puerto Rico’s delegate against it.

Two days later, it was known that he was right because the authorities of his country didn’t accept the assignment. It was then that Jamaica became important in its role as a substitute, but there were big concerns due to the expensive costs involved in hosting the games for a small country.