Formation 1940 Headquarters Mexico City, Mexico | Type Sports federation President Julio César Maglione | |
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Membership 41 National Olympic Committees Official language English, Spanish, French | ||
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.
Contents
- Affiliated organizations
- Exclusion of indigenous sports
- Flag
- Member countries
- PASO Presidents
- PASO Athletes Commission
- References
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:
Exclusion of indigenous sports
Despite criticisms that the Ulama or Mesoamerican Ballgame and Lacrosse 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 4 nations as effective members of Federation of International Lacrosse (Bermuda,Canada, The United States and Iroquois). However, the Iroquois nation is not a member of PASO. On the other hand, there are seven associate members of the Federation of International Lacrosse (Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru and Haiti). 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.
Former member: Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee
There are three areas not a part of PASO as they are not independent nations:
PASO Presidents
^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.