History
During the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, representatives of several Latin-American countries proposed a kind of regional Olympics for all of the Americas. The Central American Games were already in existence, having been hosted by Mexico in 1926 and by Cuba in 1930.
In 1938, the Central American Games expanded in scope, becoming the Central American and Caribbean Games, and the idea of international sports competition also embracing North America was revived after being on hold for six years. As a result, the Pan American Sports Congress was founded at Buenos Aires, Argentina, in August of 1940 and delegates agreed that Buenos Aires should host the first Pan American Games in 1942.
That didn't happen because of World War II, but the Pan American Sports Congress met again during the 1948 Olympics in London and revived the idea. Buenos Aires finally hosted the first Pan American Games, which opened on February 25, 1951. The 21 countries that took part were represented by 2,513 athletes competing in 18 sports.
The organizing body was renamed the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) in 1955, when the games were held in Mexico City. Canada competed for the first time, bringing the total number of countries to 22. There are currently 42 countries from North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean in PASO, which is headquartered in Mexico City. More than 5,000 athletes have participated at each Pan American Games since 1995.
The Pan American Games are patterned after the Olympics in many respects. The opening and closing ceremonies are very similar, and both athletes and officials take the Olympic oaths. However, there have been more sports in the Pan American Games. Bowling, in-line skating, racquetball, roller skating, squash, and water skiing are among the non-Olympic sports that are or have been on the Pan American Games program.
There have been periodic attempts to establish winter Pan American Games. In fact, the organizers of the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires planned to stage winter events later in the but dropped the idea for lack of interest.
Lake Placid, New York, tried to organize Winter Games in 1959, but again not enough Pan American countries expressed interest and the plans were cancelled.
In 1988, members of PASO voted to hold the first Pan American Winter Games at Las Lenas, Argentina in September of 1989. It was further agreed that Winter Games would be held every four years.
Lack of snow forced postponement of the games until Sept. 16-22, 1990, when eight countries sent 97 athletes to Las Lenas. Of that total, 76 were from just three countries, Argentina, Canada, and the United States. Weather was unseasonably warm and again there was little snow, so only three Alpine sking events, the slalom, giant slalom, and Super G, were staged. The U. S. and Canada combined to win all 18 medals.
Undeterred, PASO awarded the 2nd Pan American Winter Games to Santiago, Chile for 1993. The United States warned that it wouldn't take part unless a full schedule of events was held. The Santiago organizing committee eventually gave up and the idea hasn't been revived since then.