Pan American Sports Organization

Pan American Sports Organization

Countries with one or more members are in green
Formation	1940
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Mexico City, Mexico
Membership	41 National Olympic Committees
Official language	English, Spanish, French
President	Neven Ilić Álvarez
Website	paso-odepa.org

The Pan American Sports Organization (acronym: PASO); (Spanish: Organización Deportiva Panamericana, Portuguese: Organização Desportiva Pan-Americana ODEPA; French: Organisation Sportive Pan-Américaine OSPA) is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the North American and South American continents.

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 foremost event is the quadrennial Pan American Games, held since 1951. The Parapan American Games was inaugurated in 1999 for disabled athletes and is held alongside the able-bodied Pan American Games. The Pan American Winter Games, for winter sports, was 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 other organisations affiliated to the Pan American Sports Organization, they are:

• ODESUR – organisers of the South American Games
• CASCO – organisers of the Central American and Caribbean Games
• ORDECA – organisers of the Central American Games
• ODEBO – organisers of the Bolivarian Games

Exclusion of indigenous sports

Despite criticisms that the Ulama or Mesoamerican Ballgame and Lacrosse^[1][2] are not included in the program of the Pan American Games, the number of countries enrolled in its member associations is not enough because 14 are needed to have it included in the Games. For example, nowadays, there are 13 members of Federation of International Lacrosse (Bermuda, Canada, The United States, Iroquois, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and Haiti). However, the Iroquois nation is not a member of PASO. ^[3]). Thus, there are twelve nations members of FIL, still not enough to include the sports in the Pan Am Games. Lacrosse is recognized by Sports Accord and by the International Olympic Committee. However the same thing does not occur with ulama, which inhibits its participation in the Pan American Games. It is likely that lacrosse will be included when more American nations start practicing it. Besides, the Lacrosse Copa America was created, and the first one was played in Mexico in 2015.

Flag

Just like the International Olympic Committee, the Pan American Sports Organization has its own flag. The flag has 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. Also, on the flag is a torch along with the Olympic Rings and five circles with the official colours of the Olympics on a white background. Finally, the words PASO and ODEPA are 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	Region	Ref.
Antigua and Barbuda	ANT	The Antigua and Barbuda Olympic Association	1966/1976	Caribbean
Argentina	ARG	Argentinian Olympic Committee	1923	South America
Aruba	ARU	Aruban Olympic Committee	1985/1986	Caribbean
Bahamas	BAH	Bahamas Olympic Association	1952	Caribbean
Barbados	BAR	Barbados Olympic Association	1955	Caribbean
Belize	BIZ	Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association	1967	Central America
Bermuda	BER	Bermuda Olympic Association	1935/1936	North America
Bolivia	BOL	Bolivian Olympic Committee	1932/1936	South America
Brazil	BRA	Brazilian Olympic Committee	1914/1935	South America
British Virgin Islands	IVB	British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	1980/1982	Caribbean
Canada	CAN	Canadian Olympic Committee	1904/1907	North America
Cayman Islands	CAY	Cayman Islands Olympic Committee	1973/1976	Caribbean
Chile	CHI	Chilean Olympic Committee	1934	South America
Colombia	COL	Colombian Olympic Committee	1936/1948	South America
Costa Rica	CRC	Costa Rican Olympic Committee	1953/1954	Central America
Cuba	CUB	Cuban Olympic Committee	1926/1954	Caribbean
Dominica	DMA	Dominica Olympic Committee	1987/1993	Caribbean
Dominican Republic	DOM	Dominican Republic Olympic Committee	1946/1962	Caribbean
Ecuador	ECU	Ecuadorian National Olympic Committee	1948/1959	South America
El Salvador	ESA	El Salvador Olympic Committee	1949/1962	Central America
Grenada	GRN	Grenada Olympic Committee	1984	Caribbean
Guatemala	GUA	Guatemalan Olympic Committee	1947	Central America
Guyana	GUY	Guyana Olympic Association	1935/1948	Caribbean
Haiti	HAI	Haitian Olympic Committee	1914/1924	Caribbean
Honduras	HON	Honduran Olympic Committee	1956	Central America
Jamaica	JAM	Jamaica Olympic Association	1936	Caribbean
Mexico	MEX	Mexican Olympic Committee	1923	North America
Nicaragua	NCA	Nicaragua Olympic Committee	1959	Central America
Panama	PAN	Panama Olympic Committee	1934/1947	Central America
Paraguay	PAR	Paraguayan Olympic Committee	1970	South America
Peru	PER	Peruvian Olympic Committee	1924/1936	South America
Puerto Rico	PUR	Puerto Rico Olympic Committee	1948	Caribbean
Saint Kitts and Nevis	SKN	St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee	1986/1993	Caribbean
Saint Lucia	LCA	St. Lucia Olympic Committee	1987/1993	Caribbean
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VIN	St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Committee	1982/1987	Caribbean
Suriname	SUR	Suriname Olympic Committee	1959	Caribbean (South America)
Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee	1946/1948	Caribbean
United States	USA	United States Olympic Committee	1894	North America
Uruguay	URU	Uruguayan Olympic Committee	1923	South America
Venezuela	VEN	Venezuelan Olympic Committee	1935	South America
Virgin Islands	ISV	Virgin Islands Olympic Committee	1967	Caribbean

Former member: Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee

There are three areas not a part of PASO as they are not independent nations:

• Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a self-governing overseas territory of France and not a country.
• French Guiana is not a member of PASO as it is an Overseas department of France and not a country. It is the only area of South America not involved.
• Greenland is an autonomous country within Denmark and politically associated with Europe is the only North American country not involved in PASO.

PASO 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.

PASO Athlete's Commission

In 2011 a new PASO Athlete's commission was formed. Former Canadian Rhythmic Gymnast and multiple time Pan American Games gold medalist Alexandra Orlando was selected the president of the commission. The commission will be made up of seven athletes (5 current and 2 former) with two being reserved for non-Olympic sports.^[4][5]

Member	Country	Since	Pan American Games Participation
Alexandra Orlando	Canada	2011	2003–2007
Mijaín López	Cuba	2011	2003–2011
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

Accession of countries per games

Games	Host	Accession Countries	Total
I	Buenos Aires	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.	21
II	Mexico City	Bahamas, Canada, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico.	4
III	Chicago	Guyana, Netherlands Antilles.	2
IV	São Paulo	Barbados.	1
V	Winnipeg	Belize, Bolivia, Bermuda, Virgin Islands.	4
VI	Cali	-	0
VII	Mexico City	Honduras.	1
VIII	San Juan	Antigua and Barbuda.	1
IX	Caracas	British Virgin Islands, Suriname.	2
X	Indianapolis	Aruba, Cayman Islands, Grenada.	3
XI	Havana	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.	1
XII	Mar de Plata	Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia.	3
XIII	Winnipeg	-	0
XIV	Santo Domingo	-	0
XV	Rio de Janeiro	-	0
XVI	Guadalajara	-	0
XVII	Toronto	-	0
XVIII	Lima	Future	-

See also

• Americas Paralympic Committee

References

External links

• ODEPA/PASO Official Website
• Americas Paralympic Committee Official Website