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Puerto Rico first took part in the Summer Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent a delegation from then on. Although it is a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico did not fully join in the American-spearheaded boycott of the 1980 Russia Summer Olympics, sending three boxers to the Moscow Olympics.

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Puerto Rico has had most success in the sport of boxing.

The Puerto Ricans captured the bronze medal in the men’s baseball competition at the 1988 Seoul, Olympics, but that medal was not counted since the ballgame was just a demonstration sport at that time.

Puerto Rico won its first-ever gold medal at the Games thanks to tennis player Monica Puig who captured the women’s singles event in the tennis competition in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Other notable Puerto Rican Olympians are silver medalists Luis Ortiz in boxing (1984) and Jaime Espinalin in wrestling (2012).

Puerto Rico has also taken part in the Winter Olympic Games ever since 1984, but didn’t send athletes to the Games from 2006, 2010, to 2014.

Trivia

• The first Puerto Rican woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal was Gigi Fernández, who won gold in the tennis doubles in 1992 and 1996. Although she was born in Puerto Rico, she represented the United States at the Olympic Games. It was in tennis in 2016 that Puerto Rico won its first gold.
• Despite being an insular area of the United States, Puerto Rico did not participate in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, sending three boxers to Moscow.
• At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, Puerto Rico's Madeline de Jesus was injured while competing in the long jump, and was unable to run in the 4×400-meter relay. So Madeline enlisted her identical twin sister to stand in for her in the qualifying heat. However, when the coach found out he pulled the team out of the final.

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Related Pages

• Puerto Rico at the Winter Olympics
• List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
• About sport in Puerto Rico