[1] He represented his nation Puerto Rico at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won a career total of three medals (two golds and one bronze) at the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Netanya, Israel.

[4] Five months before the Games, at an Olympic qualifying event, he threw down a 100-metre lifetime best of 1:03.63 to slip past the FINA B-cut (1:03.72) by almost a tenth of a second (0.1) at the All-American Championships in Austin, Texas, United States.

[5][6] At the Olympic preliminary heats in September, 2008, Beijing, Velez slipped to the front from lane one to touch the wall first in heat three with a remarkable Puerto Rican record in 1:01.80, slashing 1.83 seconds off his own entry standard and beating India's Sandeep Sejwal, who finished behind him, in a close finish by only a small fraction of a second.

[7] Velez competed for the Puerto Rican squad in the men's 100 m breaststroke at the August, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

[8][9] Velez won a bronze medal in both the 50 and 100-meter breaststroke at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.