Lebanon at the Olympics
Lebanon was first seen in the Olympics in 1936 when they sent a team of officials to Berlin, Germany. It then took them eleven years after the Berlin Games to successfully form the Lebanese Olympic Committee which was then recognized the year after.
That very same year, they participated in their first Summer and Winter Olympics. Since their debut, Lebanon has attended almost all of the Summer Games except for one. They were one of the nations that opted to not participate in the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to show their protest against the involvement of Great Britain and France in the Suez Crisis.
Their first taste of Olympic honors was in 1952 when wrestlers Zakaria Chihab (Bantamweight) and Khalil Taha (Welterweight) took the silver and bronze respectively for men's Greco-Roman wrestling. Lebanon will have to wait two more decades before they will have another Olympic medal care of weightlifter Mohamed Traboulsi who won the silver in the middleweight division.
Lebanon is not considered as one of the most consistent Olympic teams when it comes to medal count but they are quite notable in their passion for the Summer Games.
When it comes to the Winter Games, Lebanon also has a near perfect attendance record missing only the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics although they have not yet taken their first-ever medal from the Winter Olympics.
Related Pages
- Lebanon at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About sport in Lebanon
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