Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

, also known as the United States Virgin Islands and officially as the Virgin Islands of the United States, competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the territory's twelfth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The

Virgin Islands Olympic Committee The Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (IOC code: ISV) is the National Olympic Committee representing the United States Virgin Islands. External links * U.S. Virgin Islands Olympic Committee Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Isl ...

selected a team of seven athletes, five men and two women, to compete in four different sports at the Games. This was the same number of athletes and one more sport than at London in 2012. Three of the athletes had also competed four years earlier, including triple jumper Muhammad Halim and sprinter

LaVerne Jones-Ferrette LaVerne Janet Jones-Ferrette (born September 16, 1981) is a sprinter from the United States Virgin Islands who specializes in the 100 and 200 meters. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012. She won the silver ...

, who headed to her fourth straight Games as the oldest and most experienced member (aged 35) of the team.

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

sailor and

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

finalist

Cy Thompson Cy Chris Thompson (born 1 July 1988 in Saint Thomas) is a Virgin Islands sailor. College He claimed the 2008 ICSA Men's Singlehanded National Championship in his sophomore year and finished runner-up at the 2010 national championship and pla ...

led his delegation as the flag bearer for the Virgin Islands in the opening ceremony. The US Virgin Islands, however, failed to win a single Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro. The nation's previous medal feat happened at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, where sailor

Peter Holmberg Peter William Holmberg (born October 4, 1960) is a sailor from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who won a silver medal in Men's Finn (dinghy), Finn class in the 1988 Summer Olympics, making him the only Virgin Islander medalist so far. He was born ...

bagged the silver in the Finn class.

Athletics (track and field)

Athletes from the Virgin Islands achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event): ;Track & road events ;Field events

Boxing

Virgin Islands entered one boxer to compete in the Olympic boxing tournament in the men's super heavyweight division.

Clayton Laurent Laurent Clayton Jr. (born 18 July 1990) is a super heavyweight boxer from the United States Virgin Islands. In 2016, he placed 3rd at the American Qualification Event for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games and qualified for the Olympic boxing tournam ...

claimed his Olympic spot with a box-off victory at the 2016 American Qualification Tournament in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Sailing

Sailors from the Virgin Islands qualified one boat in each of the following classes through the

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships The 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, was held in Santander, Spain, this was the fourth edition of the ISAF Sailing World Championships. It is the world championships for all disciplines used at the upcoming Olympics. What gives this event gr ...

, the individual fleet Worlds, and North American qualifying regattas. M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race

Swimming

Virgin Islands received a Universality invitation from

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.

References

External links

* * {{Country at games navbox, Virgin Islands, Olympics Nations at the 2016 Summer Olympics

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...