{|class="infobox bordered" style="width: 22em; font-size: 95%; text-align: left;" cellpadding="3" ! colspan="8" style="text-align: center; font-size: larger; background-color: #c0c0c0; color: black;" |puerto rican sportspeople25px|center |- | colspan="8" style="text-align: center;" | x106px|wilfredo gÃ³mezx106px|cepedax106px|rodriguezx106px|evangelista venegasx109px|fernÃ¡ndezx109px|fernandezx110px|arroyox109px|cruzx206px|trinidadfirst row:wilfredo gÃ³mezorlando cepedaivan rodriguezjuan evangelista venegassecond row: gigi fernÃ¡ndezlisa fernandezcarlos arroyovictor cruzthird row:fÃ©lix trinidad |} sports in puerto rico can be traced from the ceremonial competitions amongst the pre-columbian native americans of the arawak (taÃ­no) tribes which inhabited the island to the modern era in which sports activities consist of an organized physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose for competition. one of the sports which the taÃ­no's played was a ball game called "batey". the "batey" was played in "u" shaped fields two teams, however unlike the ball games of the modern era, the winners were treated like heroes and the losers were sacrificed. the spanish conquistadores who conquered the island introduced various sports such as horse racing, cockfighting, dominoes and a game similar to "bowling" called "boliche". the spaniards however did not participate in team sports. spain ceded puerto rico to the united states as a result of their defeat in the 1898 spanishâamerican war. american soldiers who organized games as part of their training introduced the sport of boxing and basketball to the people of puerto rico, however the sport of baseball which was invented in the united states was introduced to the island by a group of puerto ricans and cubans who learned the sport in the united states. puerto rico participates in the olympics as an independent nation even though is a territory of the united states. puerto rico as participated as such since the 1948 summer olympics celebrated in london. the following is the list and history of the most common sports practiced in puerto rico and the puerto rican who have excelled in those sports. ==brief history of sports in puerto rico== ===pre-columbian era=== thumb|250px|left|view of the indigenous ballparks in the tibes the taÃ­
History_of_Puerto_Rico Sports_in_Puerto_Rico