The British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee was formed in 1980 and was given its original impetus by the realization that on the part of the public, that the territory's exclusion from the 1979 Pan American Games that were next door in Puerto Rico, was because of the lack of such a body. Those who were involved in the original discussion for the formation of the BVIOC were: Khalil Hassan, Derry Maduro-Fahie, Jim Morris, Rey O'Neal, Mark Vanterpool, and Roy Pickering. O'Neal became the first BVIOC president.

The BVIOC became affiliated with the International Olympic Committee in 1982, through the intervention of German Rieckehoff, president of the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee and a member of the IOC. With a desire to participate in the 1982 Central American Games in Havana, Cuba, Rieckehoff moved rapidly to ensure that the BVI Lawn Tennis and BVI Yachting Associations gained international recognition. In June 1982, the BVIOC was accepted as and IOC member and the British Virgin Islands were able to participate in it its first games, the Central American and Caribbean Games in August 1982.

In 1983, the BVI participated in its first Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. The first appearance in the Olympic Games came in Los Angeles, California, 1984. In 1990, the BVI completed the cycle of the major games it would participate in as it was on to Auckland, New Zealand for the first representation at the Commonwealth Games.

The British Virgin Islands gained its first medal at one of the major games in December 2002, when Dion Crabbe won the 100 meters at the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador.