Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

competed at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, which were held from 26 July to 11 August 2024. The country's participation in Paris marked its fourteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, and after boycotting the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. The Belizean athlete delegation consisted of one competitor, sprinter Shaun Gill, which tied for the smallest athlete delegation of a country at these Games. Gill qualified through a

universality slot Universality slots or universality places are used by the International Olympic Committee to increase diversity of participating nations across the sports programme of the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world' ...

given by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. He was the flagbearer for the nation at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

and the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. He competed in the men's 100 metres event in athletics and did not advance further from the heats. Thus, Belize has yet to win an Olympic medal.

Background

The Games were held from 26 July to 11 August 2024, in the city of

, France. This edition of the Games marked the nation's fourteenth appearance at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

since its debut at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

, and after boycotting the

due to the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. The nation had never won a medal at the Olympics.

Delegation

The Belizean delegation was composed of five people. The officials present were Giovanni Alamilla, who served as the ''

chef de mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permanen ...

'', Hilberto "Hilly" Martinez, the president of the

Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association The Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, formerly the British Honduras Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (IOC code: BIZ), is the National Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games Association of Belize, responsible for the ...

(BOCGA), Allan Sharp, the secretary general of the BOCGA, and Cojac Smith, the president of the Belize Athletic Association. A singular athlete qualified for the Games, 2020 Summer Olympian Shaun Gill, a sprinter who competed in the men's 100 metres. The nation's athlete delegation at the Games tied with

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

, and

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, for the fewest athletes of a country at the Games.

Opening and closing ceremonies

The Belizean delegation came in 22nd out of the 205

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

s in the

2024 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations The 2024 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations within the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony took place on 26 July 2024 on the Seine river in Paris, France. Athletes and officials from each participating team marched into the Jardins du Trocadé ...

within the opening ceremony. Gill held the flag for the delegation in the ceremony and was accompanied by Alamilla and Smith. At the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

, Gill also held the flag.

Competitors

Athletics

The nation received a

from

to send one male sprinter for the Games, which allows a

to send athletes despite not meeting the standard qualification criteria. Gill was chosen by the BOCGA after being the highest ranked male sprinter in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

within the nation. With the help of athletic coach and Olympian Colin Thurton, Gill acquired an Olympic scholarship in 2023 to help with financing his training. In the lead-up to the games, he trained in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States, with coach Ryan Dall then traveled to Belize for training with coach Frederick Evans but started having pain because of the conditions of the track there, yet he could not go back to Houston due to financial issues. On 27 July 2024, he went to a training camp organized by

Panam Sports Panam Sports, officially the Pan American Sports Organization (), is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the American continents. It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee ...

for his event. Gill competed in the preliminaries of the men's 100 metres on 3 August. He ran in the fourth heat and placed sixth out of the eight people in the round, where he finished with a time of 11.17 seconds and did not advance further, citing

jet lag Jet lag is a temporary physiological condition that occurs when a person's circadian rhythm is out of sync with the time zone they are in, and is a typical result from travelling rapidly across multiple time zones (east–west or west–east). ...

for his performance.

Noah Lyles Noah Lyles (born July 18, 1997) is an American track and field Sprint (running), sprinter who competes in the 60 meters, 100 metres, 100 meters and 200 metres, 200 meters events. His personal best of 19.31 seconds in the 200 m is the List of Un ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

eventually won the gold in a time of 9.784 seconds. After Gill competed in his event, he announced his retirement and set up a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

page for funding to train younger Belizean runners, focus on his future job as an engineer, and take up a course for a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

management studies Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M University–Kingsville is a Public university, public research university in Kingsville, Texas, United States. It is the southernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System. The university developed the nation's first doctoral degr ...

. Track & road events

References

{{Country at games navbox, Belize, Summer Olympics Nations at the 2024 Summer Olympics

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...