Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Sebastian Rivera of Puerto Rico took home bronze medals from the Paris Olympics. At the same time, a new poll of voters in Puerto Rico found that 80% of respondents said participation in the Olympics is very important to them. For perspective, note that 85% of people in the same survey said their U.S. citizenship is very important to them.
Puerto Rico is not alone
This announcement from a local news station in Arkansas shows that states also feel proud of their Olympic athletes. California brought home 18 medals and Florida got 17, making these two states the top performers among states in the Paris Olympics.
Minnesota news outlets made the same kind of announcements.
And here’s the same message from Texas.
As a state, Puerto Rico can continue to celebrate Puerto Rican Olympians.
But can Puerto Rico field a team after statehood?
Although some have asked that this question be answered in the Puerto Rico Status Act before the bill is passed, it is not a realistic question. Here’s why.
First, Congress could object to Puerto Rico’s participation now if they wanted to. China objected to Hong Kong and Taiwan’s having their own Olympic teams, and the U.S. could do the same for U.S. territories.
However, it’s not actually up to Congress. China objected to Hong Kong and Taiwan’s participation, but the International Olympic Committee overruled China’s objections.
Another issue is the fact that, since 1995, only independent nations “recognized by the international community” can field teams at the Olympics. Scotland tried to get permission for an Olympics team in 2005, but it was not able to meet the requirements. U.S. territories as well as a few British ones were grandfathered in. The Committee also allows Kosovo and Palestine to field teams, not to mention the Cook Islands. Gibralter, however, even went to court to try to get approval from the Committee. The committee in this case sided with Spain, which objected to Gibralter’s inclusion. Gibralter has been a UK territory since Spain ceded it to Great Britain in the 1700s, but Spain continues to claim Gibralter. In all, there are about a dozen Olympics teams that have controversies around their eligibility and several more that have attempted but failed to gain recognition.
Hawaii once applied to have its own surfing team at the Olympics, and the Committee did not acknowledge their application, even though the United States did not protest. As the headlines at this top of this page shows, many U.S. states would surpass other nations if the U.S. were allowed to have state teams as well as a national one. Yet the territories of the U.S. are allowed to field teams. International feelings on the subject may be a factor.
How important is the Olympics?
Given that it is the International Olympics Committee, not the U.S. federal government, that makes the decision, participation in the Olympics literally can’t be included in the Puerto Rico Status Act. One nation cannot make rules for the Committee, let alone laws trying to govern it. It is possible that statehood would prompt the Committee to remove Puerto Rico’s eligibility, but it is by no means certain.
Still, Puerto Rican athletes already compete for Team USA, just as Puerto Rican athletes from the states compete for Team Puerto Rico. Would the adjustment be more important than the opportunity for equality in education, healthcare, and infrastructure? Would it be more important than protection under the U.S. Constitution, U.S. citizenship, and the right to vote?
This issue may call for some perspective.
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