From left to right: Jevonte Croal, Keron Stoute and Omari Jones

The British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (BVIOC) selected three athletes, all of whom will compete in the Field Events starting on Tuesday October 25, 2011.

The BVIOC has selected a five-member delegation to represent the Territory. The delegation is led by Chef de Mission Xavier Dag Samuels with Carl Barrett as Coach.

Jevonte Croal, who will be competing in the Long Jump today Monday October 24, Omar Jones throws the Javelin on Friday and Keron Stoute takes part in the High Jump on Thursday.

Croal’s personal best record is 6.98m, and also competing for the USVI is Collister Fahie better known in the BVI for scoring the opening goal for the Ballstarz in their 4-0 Wendoll Williams Cup final win over the Panthers.

Keron Stoute has a personal best leap of 2.11m and Jones’s best throw so far is 62.61m.

The first Pan American Games took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1951 but their origin dates back more than 20 years before. During an Olympic Congress that coincided with the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France, the members of the International Olympic Committee from Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico proposed the creation of a regional sports event in which Central American countries would participate. The games became a reality two years later when Mexico City hosted the first Central American Games.

During the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, some of the representatives of the Latin American delegations proposed the celebration of regional games for all the Americas. That proposal led to the first meeting, in Buenos Aires, of the Pan American Sports Congress in August, 1940.

A second Pan American Sports Congress was held in London during the 1948 Olympic Games and new plans for the games resurfaced. As a result of the meeting, the first Pan American Games were celebrated in Buenos Aires on February 25, 1951. More than 2,500 athletes from 22 countries competed.

The organization that oversees the games is the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). Currently, PASO is made up of 42 nations from South, Central, and North America as well as the Caribbean.