British Virgin Islands at the 2012 Summer Olympics

J'maal Alexander was 18 years old at the time of the London Olympics, and was making his Olympic debut.^[8] On 4 August, he took part in the preliminary round of the men's 100 meters. Assigned to heat three, he ran his race in a time of 10.92 seconds, fourth in his heat, but only the top two from each heat plus the next two fastest overall from all four heats could advance and he was eliminated, the slowest qualifying time being 10.80 seconds.^[9] The gold medal was eventually won by Usain Bolt of Jamaica in 9.63 seconds (an Olympic record time); silver was won by Yohan Blake also of Jamaica, and bronze was taken by the American Justin Gatlin.^[10]

Tahesia Harrigan-Scott was 30 years old at the time, and the native of the United States Virgin Islands had previously represented the British Virgin Islands at the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[11] She was the reigning bronze medalist from the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in the 60 meters event.^[12] Because of her qualifying pre-Olympic time, she received a bye through the preliminary round on 3 August, which consisted of four heats.^[13][14] In the first round proper, which was the quarterfinals of the event, later that day, she was assigned to the first heat and ran a time of 11.59 seconds, which was seventh in her heat.^[15] As the top three from each heat plus the next three fastest from all seven heats advanced to the quarterfinals, this meant she was eliminated as the slowest qualifying time was 11.35 seconds.^[15] Gold was eventually won by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica in 10.75 seconds; silver was won by Carmelita Jeter of the United States, and bronze was taken by Veronica Campbell-Brown, also of Jamaica.^[16] Harrigan-Scott would again go on to compete for the British Virgin Islands at the 2016 Summer Olympics.^[11]

• Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only

• British Virgin Islands at the 2011 Pan American Games