The 1951 Pan American Games were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between February 25 and March 9, 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, United States, where officials representing the National Olympic Committees of the Americas discussed the staging of an Olympic-style regional athletic competition for the athletes of the Americas.

Buenos Aires, officially the Autonomous City of 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 America's southeastern coast. "Buenos aires" is Spanish for "fair winds" or "good airs". Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) 2020 ranking.