Germany at the Olympics

Athletes from Germany have taken part in most of the Olympic Games since the first modern Games in 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, Germans were banned from participating in 1920, 1924 and 1948. 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 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.

Germany at the Olympics
IOC code	GER
NOC	German Olympic Sports Confederation
Website	www.dosb.de (in German, English, and French)
Medals Ranked 3rd	Gold 283 Silver 282 Bronze 290 Total 855
Summer appearances
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920–1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956–1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winter appearances
1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956–1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games  Saar (1952)  United Team of Germany (1956–1964)  East Germany (1968–1988)  West Germany (1968–1988)

Including the Winter Games of 2018, German athletes have won 1754 medals: 578 gold, 589 silver and 587 bronze. The IOC currently splits these 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

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 the 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.

Participation

Combined medals

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)

Combined IOC codes	№ Games				Combined total
Germany (GER)[1]	26	252	260	270	782
Germany (GER) (EUA)[2]	32	288	320	311	919
Germany (GER) (EUA) (FRG)[3]	43	355	402	405	1162
Germany (GER) (EUA) (FRG) (GDR)[4]	54[5]	547	567	567	1681

Timeline of participation

Date	Team(s)
1896–1936	Germany (GER)
1952	Germany (GER)  Saar (SAA)
1956–1964	United Team of Germany (EUA)
1968–1988	West Germany (FRG)  East Germany (GDR)
1992–	Germany (GER)

Hosted Games

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

Medal tables

*Red border indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Medals by Summer Games Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank 1896 Athens 19 6 5 2 13 3 1900 Paris 78 4 2 2 8 7 1904 St. Louis 18 4 4 5 13 2 1908 London 81 3 5 5 13 5 1912 Stockholm 185 5 13 7 25 6 1920–1924 did not participate 1928 Amsterdam 296 10 7 14 31 2 1932 Los Angeles 143 3 12 5 20 9 1936 Berlin 433 33 26 30 89 1 1948 London did not participate 1952 Helsinki 205 0 7 17 24 28 1956–1964 as part of the  United Team of Germany (EUA) 1968–1988 as  West Germany (FRG) and  East Germany (GDR) 1992 Barcelona 463 33 21 28 82 3 1996 Atlanta 465 20 18 27 65 3 2000 Sydney 422 13 17 26 56 5 2004 Athens 441 13 16 20 49 6 2008 Beijing 463 16 11 14 41 5 2012 London 392 11 20 13 44 6 2016 Rio de Janeiro 425 17 10 15 42 5 2020 Tokyo future event 2024 Paris future event 2028 Los Angeles future event Total 191 194 230 615 5

Medals by Winter Games Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank 1928 St. Moritz 44 0 0 1 1 8 1932 Lake Placid 20 0 0 2 2 9 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 55 3 3 0 6 2 1948 St. Moritz did not participate 1952 Oslo 53 3 2 2 7 4 1956–1964 as part of the  United Team of Germany (EUA) 1968–1988 as  West Germany (FRG) and  East Germany (GDR) 1992 Albertville 111 10 10 6 26 1 1994 Lillehammer 112 9 7 8 24 3 1998 Nagano 125 12 9 8 29 1 2002 Salt Lake City 157 12 16 8 36 2 2006 Turin 162 11 12 6 29 1 2010 Vancouver 152 10 13 7 30 2 2014 Sochi 153 8 6 5 19 6 2018 Pyeongchang 153 14 10 7 31 2 2022 Beijing future event 2026 Milan–Cortina future event Total 92 88 60 240 3

Medals by summer sport   Leading in that sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Canoeing 32 18 20 70 Equestrian 25 13 14 52 Rowing 23 14 14 51 Athletics 18 26 36 80 Cycling 14 14 16 44 Gymnastics 14 11 14 39 Swimming 13 19 29 61 Shooting 10 9 5 24 Weightlifting 6 7 7 20 Fencing 5 7 9 21 Wrestling 4 12 9 25 Boxing 4 9 10 23 Field hockey 4 2 4 10 Sailing 3 4 5 12 Judo 3 2 13 18 Diving 2 8 11 21 Tennis 2 6 2 10 Beach volleyball 2 0 1 3 Modern pentathlon 2 0 1 3 Water polo 1 2 0 3 Football 1 1 3 5 Handball 1 1 1 3 Triathlon 1 1 0 2 Table tennis 0 3 4 7 Archery 0 2 1 3 Taekwondo 0 1 1 2 Rugby 0 1 0 1 Totals (27 sports) 190 193 230 613 *This table does not include two medals – one gold and one silver – awarded in the figure skating events at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Medals by winter sport   Leading in that sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Biathlon 19 21 12 52 Luge 18 10 9 37 Speed skating 13 15 10 38 Bobsleigh 13 6 6 25 Alpine skiing 12 7 7 26 Ski jumping 6 6 1 13 Nordic combined 5 5 4 14 Figure skating 4 2 3 9 Cross country skiing 2 9 4 15 Snowboarding 1 4 2 7 Skeleton 0 2 1 3 Ice hockey 0 1 1 2 Freestyle skiing 0 1 0 1 Totals (13 sports) 93 89 60 242 *This table includes two medals – one gold and one silver – awarded in the figure skating events at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

See also

• List of flag bearers for Germany at the Olympics
• Category:Olympic competitors for Germany
• Germany at the Paralympics

References

1. International Olympic Committee: Germany
2. Sports Reference: Germany Archived February 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
3. olympicsuniverse.com: All Time Summer Olympics Medal Tally
4. BBC: Timeline: Olympic Powers
5. Counting the eleven Games where both East Germany (GDR) and West Germany (FRG) competed as two appearances.

External links

• "Germany". International Olympic Committee.
• "Germany". Olympedia.com.
• "Olympic Analytics/GER". olympanalyt.com.