San Juan, Puerto Rico
July 1 - 15, 1979
The historic capital city of Puerto Rico played host to 3,700 athletes from 34 countries competing in 22 sports, making the VIII Pan American Games the largest to date. Security was a concern due to turmoil over the issue of Puerto Rican statehood. The CBS television network broadcast 12 hours of coverage in the United States.
Artist Lorenzo Homar designed the symbol of the VIII Pan American Games. Born in Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico in 1913, Homar emigrated to New York when he was a teenager and began working for the Cartier jewelry company. After World War II, he studied graphic arts at the Brooklyn Museum under the artists Tamayo, Osver and Peterdi. Homar selected the collar because of its cultural and sports heritage. The symbol of the Games is based upon the Taíno Collar, a well-known archeological artifact of the Taíno Indians who inhabited Puerto Rico before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The symbol consists of the collar with a torch in its center. The modern graphic version depicts the torch’s flame as a flying dove.
