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Germany at the Olympics

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Germany at the
Olympics
IOC codeGER
NOCGerman Olympic Sports Confederation
Websitewww.dosb.de (in German, English, and French)
Medals
Ranked 4th
Gold
317
Silver
318
Bronze
320
Total
955
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

––––

 Saar (1952)
 United Team of Germany (1956–1964)
 East Germany (1968–1988)
 West Germany (1968–1988)

Athletes from Germany have taken part in most of the modern Olympic Games held since 1896. Germany has hosted three Olympic Games, in 1936 both the Winter and Summer Games, and the 1972 Summer Olympics. In addition, Germany had been selected to host the 1916 Summer Olympics as well as the 1940 Winter Olympics, both of which had to be cancelled due to World Wars. After these wars, Germany was banned from participating in the 1920, 1924 and 1948 Olympics.

While the country was divided, each of the two German states boycotted one of the Summer Games. In 1980, West Germany was one of 66 nations which did not go to Moscow in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, and in 1984 East Germany joined the Soviet Union and several others in the boycott of the Summer Games in Los Angeles. In 1990, East Germany and West Germany would reunite, with Germany once again competing as a single full sovereign state since the 1992 Olympic year.

The IOC currently splits German results among four codes, even though only the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1968 to 1988 had sent a separate team to compete against the team of the German NOC that represented Germany (GER) since 1896.

German post-WW2 division until 1990

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After German organisations had been dissolved by the Allies in 1947, in 1950 the IOC recognized the reorganized Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland for all of Germany, based in (West) Germany.

Due to the Cold War, an East German state (German Democratic Republic) was created in October 1949, and a separate National Olympic Committee (NOC) for East Germany was established in 1951. It was not immediately recognized by the IOC, which until 1965 required that athletes of the NOC of East Germany join the German team represented by the West Germany-based NOC of Germany. This team, which competed together from 1956 to 1964, is nowadays called the United Team of Germany (EUA, "Equipe Unifiée Allemande"), but was Germany (GER) then. As a result of Germany being divided, from 1968 to 1990 two independent teams competed in each of the Games; the original designations were GER for the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and GDR for the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). In 1980 the West German code was changed to FRG (which is currently also applied by the IOC in retrospect). After the GDR ceased to exist in 1990 and its states joined the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany once again was represented by a single team, designated GER.

Additionally, in the early 1950s the French-occupied Saar had its own NOC and competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics before joining the German Olympic team in 1956 and the (West) German state by 1957.

Overview of Olympic participation

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Timeline of participation

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Olympic
year/s
team
1896–1912 Germany (GER)
1920–1924 denied participation after WWI
1928–1932 Germany (GER)
1936
1948 occupied country after WWII:
former German Olympic Committee
was dissolved
1952 Germany (GER)
Saar (SAA)

East Germany
did not participate
1956–1964 United Team of Germany (EUA)
1968–1988 Germany (FRG) East Germany (GDR)
since 1992      (GER)

Germany at the Summer Olympics

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  Host country

Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
Kingdom of Greece 1896 Athens 19 6 5 2 13 3
France 1900 Paris 78 4 3 2 9 7
United States 1904 St. Louis 18 4 5 6 15 2
United Kingdom 1908 London 81 3 5 5 13 5
Sweden 1912 Stockholm 185 5 13 7 25 6
Belgium 1920 Antwerp did not participate
France 1924 Paris
Netherlands 1928 Amsterdam 296 10 7 14 31 2
United States 1932 Los Angeles 143 3 12 5 20 9
Nazi Germany 1936 Berlin 433 33 26 30 89 1
United Kingdom 1948 London did not participate
Finland 1952 Helsinki 205 0 7 17 24 28
Australia 1956 Melbourne as the  United Team of Germany (EUA)
Italy 1960 Rome
Japan 1964 Tokyo
Mexico 1968 Mexico City as  West Germany (FRG) and  East Germany (GDR)
West Germany 1972 Munich
Canada 1976 Montreal
Soviet Union 1980 Moscow
United States 1984 Los Angeles
South Korea 1988 Seoul
Spain 1992 Barcelona 463 33 21 28 82 3
United States 1996 Atlanta 465 20 18 27 65 3
Australia 2000 Sydney 422 13 17 26 56 5
Greece 2004 Athens 441 13 16 20 49 6
China 2008 Beijing 463 16 11 14 41 5
United Kingdom 2012 London 392 11 20 13 44 6
Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro 425 17 10 15 42 5
Japan 2020 Tokyo 425 10 11 16 37 9
France 2024 Paris 428 12 13 8 33 10
United States 2028 Los Angeles future event
Australia 2032 Brisbane
Total 213 220 255 688 7

Germany at the Winter Olympics

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  Host country

Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
France 1924 Chamonix did not participate
Switzerland 1928 St. Moritz 44 0 0 1 1 8
United States 1932 Lake Placid 20 0 0 2 2 9
Nazi Germany 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 55 3 3 0 6 2
Switzerland 1948 St. Moritz did not participate
Norway 1952 Oslo 53 3 2 2 7 4
Italy 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo as the  United Team of Germany (EUA)
United States 1960 Squaw Valley
Austria 1964 Innsbruck
France 1968 Grenoble as  West Germany (FRG) and  East Germany (GDR)
Japan 1972 Sapporo
Austria 1976 Innsbruck
United States 1980 Lake Placid
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1984 Sarajevo
Canada 1988 Calgary
France 1992 Albertville 111 10 10 6 26 1
Norway 1994 Lillehammer 112 9 7 8 24 3
Japan 1998 Nagano 125 12 9 8 29 1
United States 2002 Salt Lake City 157 12 16 8 36 2
Italy 2006 Turin 162 11 12 6 29 1
Canada 2010 Vancouver 152 10 13 7 30 2
Russia 2014 Sochi 153 8 6 5 19 6
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang 153 14 10 7 31 2
China 2022 Beijing 149 12 10 5 27 2
Italy 2026 Milano Cortina future event
Total 104 98 65 267 3

Combined medals of all German NOCs

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Germany has competed at the Olympics under five different designations, including as two separate teams at several Games. Sources vary in how they present the medals won by these teams. The table below shows sourced combinations of these teams, when applied to the main table. Saar competed independently in the Summer Olympic games in 1952, but failed to win any medals. Due to most lists only listing medal counts, it's possible but not certain Saar was included as part of Germany in their calculations.

Medals won by Germany at the Summer Olympic Games between 1896 and 2012 (between 1956 and 1964 as the United Team of Germany and between 1968 and 1988 as a sum of medals of West and East Germany)
Medals won by Germany at the Winter Olympic Games between 1928 and 2014 (between 1956 and 1964 as the United Team of Germany and between 1968 and 1988 as sum of medals of West and East Germany)

Medal counts:
status after the 2024 Olympics, as of August 13, 2024

Summer Games Winter Games Combined total
Team (IOC code)

No.

No.

No.

   Germany (GER) 18 213 220 255 688 13 104 98 65 267 31 317 318 320 955
 Saar (SAA) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
 United Team of Germany (EUA) 3 28 54 36 118 3 8 6 5 19 6 36 60 41 137
 East Germany (GDR) 5 153 129 127 409 6 39 36 35 110 11 192 165 162 519
 West Germany (FRG) 5 56 67 81 204 6 11 15 13 39 11 67 82 94 243
Total 27 450 470 499 1419 22 162 155 118 435 49 612 625 617 1854
Combined IOC codes No. Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Combined total
 Germany (GER)[1] 30 317 318 320 955
 Germany (GER) (EUA) 37 353 378 361 1092
 Germany (GER) (EUA) (FRG) 48 420 460 455 1335
 Germany (GER) (EUA) (FRG) (GDR)[2] 59[3] 612 625 617 1854

Hosted Games

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For the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, see West Germany at the Olympics.

Games Host city Dates Nations Participants Events
1936 Winter Olympics Garmisch-Partenkirchen 6 – 16 February 28 646 17
1936 Summer Olympics Berlin 1 – 6 August 49 3,963 129

Unsuccessful bids

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Games City Winner of bid[4]
1908 Summer Olympics Berlin London, United Kingdom
2000 Summer Olympics Berlin Sydney, Australia
2012 Summer Olympics Leipzig[a] London, United Kingdom
2018 Winter Olympics Munich Pyeongchang, South Korea
2024 Summer Olympics Hamburg Paris, France
  1. ^ Not shortlisted into candidate stage

See also

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References

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  1. ^ International Olympic Committee: Germany
  2. ^ BBC: Timeline: Olympic Powers
  3. ^ Counting the eleven Games where both East Germany (GDR) and West Germany (FRG) competed as two appearances.
  4. ^ "Past Olympic host city election results". GamesBids. Archived from the original on January 24, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
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