Serbia at the Olympics
Serbia has had a long history at the Olympic Games. Even though Serbia missed the first Olympiad in 1896 in Athens, the nation’s king Aleksandar Obrenović was invited to the games by Greek king George I. In 1912, Serbia was referred to as the Kingdom of Serbia when it made its first appearance in the Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm, with two athletes competing. It would be another 96 years before they competed as Serbia again at the Olympics, in 2008.
From the 1920 Games, athletes from this region represented Yugoslavia, then later as part of Serbia and Montenegro. At the 1992 Summer Olympics Serbian athletes participated as Independent Olympic Participants, as at that time their nation was under United Nations sanctions. The nation formed a tandem with Montenegro when it participated in the Olympics from 1996 to 2004. Serbia declared independence from Montenegro in 2006. Finally, after 96 years, they participated as an independent state again from 2008 up to present.
In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, and in 2014 were given provisionally recognized in 2014. They first participated at an Olympic Games in 2016.
Serbia participated at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. Its participation in the quadrennial meet marked the nation's fourth straight competition at the Olympics as an independent state. The nation sent 103 competitors (58 men and 45 women) in 14 different sport disciplines and won 8 medals (2 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes). Serbia’s water polo team and wrestler Davor Štefanek clinched the gold medal. The nation’s three other teams in ballgames captured medals: men's basketball (silver medal), women's volleyball (silver) and women's basketball (bronze). The other medalists of the nation are taekwondo Tijana Bogdanović (silver), rower Marko Tomićević–Milenko Zorić (silver) and long jumper Ivana Španović (bronze).
Trivia
- Shooter Jasna Šekarić is one of two athletes to compete under four different flags at the Olympic Games. She competed for Yugoslavia at Seoul in 1988, then under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants at Barcelona 1992, then represented the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later called Serbia and Montenegro) at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. In 2008 and 2012 Šekarić competed for Serbia following Montenegro's independence.
Related Pages
- Serbia at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- Kosovo at the Olympics
- About sport in Serbia
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