| Kosovo at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | KOS |
| NOC | Olympic Committee of Kosovo |
| Website | noc-kosovo.org |
| Medals Ranked 88th |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
| Other related appearances | |
 Yugoslavia (1920–1992W) Independent Olympic Participants (1992S) Serbia and Montenegro (1996–2006) Serbia (2008–2012) | |
Kosovo made itsOlympic debut as a member state in2016.[1] Its team is organized by theOlympic Committee of Kosovo (OCK), created in 1992 and recognized by theInternational Olympic Committee on 9 December 2014.[1] It won its first medal in its debut appearance in 2016, whenjudokaMajlinda Kelmendi took gold in the women's -52 kg category. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,Nora Gjakova won gold in the women's judo -57 kg class, andDistria Krasniqi won gold in the women's judo -48 kg class.
In past Olympic Games, athletes born in what is now Kosovo participated as part of theYugoslavian team. In the1960 Summer Olympics, three football players born inKosovo (Milutin Šoškić,Fahrudin Jusufi, andVladimir Durković) won gold as part of theYugoslavia national team.[2] The first individual athlete from Kosovo who competed forYugoslavia at the Olympics was boxerMehmet Bogujevci in the1980 Summer Olympicsmen's welterweight category, reaching the quarterfinals.[3] In the1984 Summer Olympics, boxerAziz Salihu became the first individual athlete from Kosovo to win an Olympic medal, a bronze in thesuper heavyweight class.[4] In the following1988 Summer Olympics, Salihu became the first Kosovan individual athlete to participate for a third time, again inboxing.[5] The world-renowned judo coach of Kosovo is Driton Kuka.[6] The bronze medalist at the European Championship in 1990 and the World Cup in Hungary in 1991 was to participate forFR Yugoslavia in the1992 Barcelona Olympics, but Kosovo pulled out its competitors because of the repression of ethnic Albanians by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.[7]Kosovo AlbanianLuan Krasniqi won a bronze medal representingGermany inheavyweight boxing at the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta.[8][9] In the2000 Summer Olympics in SydneyTaip Ramadani became the first Kosovan Team athlete to representAustralia inHandball.[10] Another Boxer with Kosovan descent would take place, withNaim Terbunja representingSweden at the2008 Summer Olympics.[11]Fatmire Alushi, who was born in Kosovo, in Istog won a bronze medal while playing on theGerman women's football team at the2008 Olympics in Beijing.[12] Kosovo-AlbanianKosovare Asllani, representing theSweden women's national football team, won silver medals twice: first at the2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and again in the2020 Tokyo Olympics.[13]
After thebreakup of Yugoslavia, theOlympic Committee of Kosovo (OCK) was established 1992.[14] However, onlyKosovo Serb athletes participated as part of the Olympic teams ofSerbia and Montenegro andSerbia. On 17 February 2008, theKosovan Parliamentdeclared independence fromSerbia. World junior champion in judo,Majlinda Kelmendi, qualified for the2012 Summer Olympics. She wanted to compete under theflag of Kosovo, but OCK was not recognized by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time. Also, the IOC turned down Kelmendi's request to compete as anindependent athlete. Kelmendi chose instead to representAlbania.[15] In which she couldn't win the first ever medal for Albania as she lost in the Round of Sixteen of this tournament.[16]
In April 2013, theBrussels Agreement was concluded between theSerbian andKosovan governments. Kosovo was recognised as a provisional member of the IOC on 22 October 2014, before becoming a full member on 9 December 2014.[17] At that time, Kosovo was not a member or observer state of theUnited Nations, but it had gaineddiplomatic recognition as asovereign state by108 out of 193 UN member states. Kelmendi, who had gone on to become World and European judo champion in 2013 and 2014, carried Kosovo's flag during theParade of Nations in the opening ceremonies in bothRio 2016 andTokyo 2020.[18]
Serbia protested Kosovo's admission to the IOC, as it officially claims that Kosovo is anautonomous province of Serbia. However, Serbia, considering the harmful effects ofYugoslavia's expulsion in 1992, decided against boycotting the2016 Summer Olympics as a consequence.[19]
Kosovo competed for the first time as a recognized Olympic nation at the2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In total eight athletes competed in various sports. Kosovo won one gold medal by Kelmendi in thewomen's -52kg class, the first Olympic medal for Kosovo in its history.[20] As Kosovo finished their debut in theSummer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the 54th place.[21]
The Olympic Committee of Kosovo made its Winter Olympic debut at the2018 Games in Pyeongchang.Albin Tahiri was the flag-bearer at the2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[22]
Kosovo competed in theTokyo Games in 2021, with five male and six female competitors. Majlinda Kelmendi andAkil Gjakova were the flag-bearers in theParade of Nations.Kosovo won two gold medals in the2020 Summer Olympics, both in judo.Distria Krasniqi won the first gold medal for Kosovo inwomen's -48kg event.[23]Nora Gjakova won the second gold medal for Kosovo in thewomen's -57kg event,[24] the third gold medal overall for Kosovo at the Olympic Games.[25] They won their two medals after three days of this competition, ranking them 7th on the Olympic Medal table, that particular day.[26][27] Kosovo finished the2020 Summer Olympics in Tokio in the 42nd place. Their highest finish so far, as a nation.[28]
Kosovo competed at the2022 Winter Olympics held in Beijing. Its Olympic team consisted of two athletes, one male and one female.Albin Tahiri competed in four alpine ski events. Kiana Kryeziu became the first woman in the history ofKosovo to compete at theWinter Olympics, in thewomen's giant slalom.[29][30] Albin Tahiri achieved the best result for Kosovo at the Winter Olympics in themen's combined event with a 15th-place finish.[31] His second best finish came in themen's giant slalom where he finished 30th.[32]
In the2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Kosovo were able to win two more medals this time one silver and one bronze medal.[33]Distria Krasniqi won silver in the Women's 52 kg category, her second medal at theSummer Olympics losing the final againstDiyora Keldiyorova after golden score.[34][35] The following medal were won byLaura Fazliu who would win theBronze Medal in the Women's 63 kg. Kosovo so far won five olympic medals in their three appearances at the Summer Olympics.[36]
| Date | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | as part of Austria |  Serbia (SRB) | |||||
| 1920–1936 |  Kingdom of Yugoslavia(YUG) | ||||||
| 1948–1988 | SFR Yugoslavia(YUG) | ||||||
| 1992 W |  Croatia (CRO) |  Slovenia (SLO) | SFR Yugoslavia(YUG) | ||||
| 1992 S |  Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | Independent Olympic Participants (IOP) | |||||
| 1994 | ban on participation by the UN | ||||||
| 1996–2006 |  North Macedonia (MKD) | FR Yugoslavia(YUG)/ Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) | |||||
| 2008–2014 | Serbia (SRB) |  Montenegro (MNE) | |||||
| 2016– | Serbia (SRB) |  Kosovo (KOS) | |||||
Medals by Summer Games[edit]
| Medals by Winter Games[edit]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sports |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Judo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
| Athlete | Sport | Games |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distria Krasniqi | Judo | 2020–2024 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| No. | Name | Sport | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yugoslav era | |||
| 1-3 | Fahrudin Jusufi Vladimir Durković Milutin Šoškić | Football | 1960 |
| 4 | Aziz Salihu | Boxing | 1984 |
| Independent Kosovo | |||
| 5 | Majlinda Kelmendi | Judo | 2016 |
| 6, 8 | Distria Krasniqi | Judo | 2020,2024 |
| 7 | Nora Gjakova | Judo | 2020 |
| 9 | Laura Fazliu | Judo | 2024 |
| Sport | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 | Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Boxing | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cycling | 1 | 1 | ||
| Judo | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| Shooting | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Swimming | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Wrestling | 1 | 1 |
| Sport | 2018 | 2022 | Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Skiing | 1 | 2 | 3 |
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