Puerto Rico is part of the United States but NOT their Olympics team
If Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens then why don't they compete with each other?
Kicking things off with an answer to a question I’ve seen floating around the internet the last couple weeks: why don’t Puerto Rican athletes compete under the USA flag in the Olympics if they are citizens of the United States? It’s a good question as it hearkens to something that I think most people don’t realize: recognition of states as an independent entities is not often left to a single organization such as the United Nations, but rather is an amalgamation of many different layers of governing bodies. But let’s talk a bit about Puerto Rico first.
Puerto Rico, long part of the Spanish colonial empire, was invaded and taken over by the United States in 1898. Since that time, the island has been under some form of occupation and territorial control of the US. As with a lot of territories the United States took over, however, its people didn’t exactly become citizens over night. In fact, between 1898 and 1917, Puerto Ricans existed in a state of quasi-citizenship status until an act called the Jones Act was passed that officially made Puerto Ricans de-facto U.S. citizens (though it’s worth pointing out that this doesn’t mean they had all the same rights and privileges… it gets complicated).
Despite citizenship, however, Puerto Rico remains a territory, rather than a state within the United States. And this means that many Puerto Ricans often don’t feel American (pardon the US-centric demonym) in the same way that perhaps a Floridian does. So while Puerto Ricans are American in the same way that a Floridian is, you’d be hard pressed to find a Puerto Ricans who doesn’t identify first as of Puerto Rico rather than of the United States.
All of this leads us to the 1948 Olympics held in London. Prior to this momentous event, the Olympics hadn’t been held since 1936 due to World War 2. This war basically put the entire world in stasis while different countries warred with each other. Even countries not directly involved in the war saw major disruptions due to the global economy basically coming to a standstill. So in 1948, when the Olympics came back, it was an exciting time except for one thing… most countries were in ruins still. Europe was a fractured continent with many burned out cities. The Soviet Union was also still very much in recovery mode and didn’t send anyone to the Olympics that year. China and Japan were also out because of their respective wartime problems. And so, for the grand return of the Olympics in 1948, a scant 59 countries attended. That’s compared to 206 countries involved today. But one of those countries was none of than Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico created its own National Olympics Committee in 1948 and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) granted their independent status so they could participate in London later that year. For both parties this was mutually beneficial. Puerto Rico, again often wanting independence and its own identity, was able to get recognition from a global entity and the IOC, coming off a disastrous 12 year gap in the games, needed more countries to participate in what would later be called the “Austerity Games.” Both offered the other what they needed at the time: legitimacy. And so, Puerto Rico was allowed to play as an independent nation within the Olympics and has since.
Puerto Ricans can, of course, play with Team USA if they prefer. There’s nothing legally stopping them. But it appears to be uncommon. A cursory search reveals only a handful such as Gigi Fernandez who was born in Puerto Rico but represented the United States in 1992 and 1996. Still, it seems like the vast majority of elite Olympic athletes who are from Puerto Rico opt to play for Puerto Rico.
And so there you have it! Puerto Ricans are US citizens in that, they have free movement within the country and can live and work anywhere they want. But Puerto Ricans also view themselves as an independent cultural identity and we see that cultural identity manifest in things such as the Olympics and other sporting tournaments. Right now, this seems to work for everyone involved. As far as I know, there are no complaints from either end. But if Puerto Rico ever does become a full state — something that’s picked up steam lately — it will be interesting if they’re able to still operate independently in sport as they do today.