North Macedonia at the Olympics
Athletes from the region now known as North Macedonia have competed in the Summer Games since 1920, originally as part of the Yugoslavian delegation, then as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and now as North Macedonia.
The country FYR Macedonia was formed with the split-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, as was also Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro. At the 1992 Olympics, Macedonian athletes participated as Independent Olympic Participants, as they could not appear under their own flag because their NOC had not been formed.
Macedonia first competed at the Olympic Games as an independent nation in 1996, competing under the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or FYR Macedonia, and from 2021 as North Macedonia.
Although relatively young as an independent nation in the Summer Games, its athletes have had some success at the Olympics. At the 2000 Summer Games held in Sydney, Australia, wrestler Mogamed Ibragimov won the bronze in men's freestyle 85 kg. He is officially the country's first Olympic medalist. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, the country won a second medal, a silver by Dejan Georgievski in the men's 80+kg Taekwondo event.
There have been many other athletes from Macedonia which have won medals at the Olympics representing Yugoslavia. Macedonian Blagoje Vidinić won gold playing as goalkeeper for the Yugoslavia team in 1960. Freestyle wrestler Shaban Tërstena also won gold in 1984. There are other medalists of macedonian heritage, including wrestler Shaban Sejdiu, and boxers Redžep Redžepovski and Ace Rusevski.
As far as the Winter Games are concerned, North Macedonian athletes first participated under their own banner in 1996 in Nagano, Japan and have done so ever since.
Related Pages
- North Macedonia at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- About sport in North Macedonia
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