| Tunisia at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | TUN |
| NOC | Tunisian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals Ranked 70th |
|
| Summer appearances | |
Tunisia first participated at theOlympic Games in 1960, and has sent athletes to compete in everySummer Olympic Games except when they participated in theAmerican-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The nation has never participated in any Winter Olympic Games.
Tunisian athletes have won a total of 18 medals, including four by the greatlong-distance runnerMohammed Gammoudi in men'sathletics, four in men'sswimming: three bylong-distance swimmerOussama Mellouli and one byAhmed Ayoub Hafnaoui, two in men'sboxing, one in women's athletics, one in women'sfencing, three in men'staekwondo and most recently one in men'sfencing in the 2024 Paris Olympics byFares Ferjani.
TheNational Olympic Committee for Tunisia was created in 1957.
Tunisia first took part in the1960 Summer Olympics inRome. The 45 men competed in athletics,Boxing,Fencing,Cycling,Modern pentathlon,Shooting andFootball. The first Olympians came from the boxing relay. On 25 August 1960, the bantamweightTahar Ben Hassan, the lightweightNoureddine Dziri, the light welterweightAzouz Bechir and the welterweightOmrane Sadok came to their first-round bouts.
The first medals were won in1964 Summer Olympics inTokyo. Tunisia's first medalist wasMohammed Gammoudi on 14 October 1964, who won silver in the10,000 meter.[1] BoxerHabib Galhia won the light welterweight bronze a week later.[2] A Tunisian judoka took part in Tokyo for the first time. At1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City Gammoudi was able to triple his medal haul. In addition to winning a bronze medal in the10,000 meters,[3] he became Tunisia's first Olympic champion in the5,000 meters on 15 October 1968.[4] At1972 Summer Olympics inMunich, handball players, volleyball players and a wrestler competed for the first time. Mohammed Gammoudi won his fourth Olympic medal with silver in the5000 meters.[5] So far (2020) he is the Tunisian with the most medals at the Olympic Games.
Tunisia was one of the few African countries to take part in the1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal. The athletes were not used, but swimmers took part for the first time. In addition, a Tunisian woman started in Montreal for the first time.Myriam Mizouni became the country's first Olympian on 18 July 1976 in the100-meter freestyle heats.[6] The country immediately joined theUS-led boycott of the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow.
At1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, Tunisian weightlifters took part for the first time. InBoxing,Lotfi Belkhir reached the quarterfinals atlight welterweight. InSeoul 1988, Tunisian table tennis players made their Olympic debut. Thefootball selection met in the preliminary round the team fromWest Germany, which later won bronze, and lost 1–4. At1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona, in which a sports sailor competed for the first time, were unsuccessful for the Tunisian team.
It was not until1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta that a medal could be celebrated again. BoxerFethi Missaoui won bronze atlight welterweight.[7] In athletics,Ali Hakimi reached the 1500m final and finished eighth. In Atlanta, a Tunisian tennis player took part for the first time. Tunisian rowers made their Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000. The team was also unsuccessful in2000 Sydney.
At2004 Summer Olympics inAthens, Tunisian Taekwondoin and a gymnast competed for the first time. SwimmerOussama Mellouli reached the final in the400m individual medley and finished 5th. In women'sweightlifting,Hayet Sassi finished 4th in themiddleweight division. The taekwondoinHichem Hamdouni was able to reach the quarterfinals in thewelterweight division. Saber fencerAzza Besbes also reached the quarterfinals.
After 40 years, a Tunisian Olympic victory was celebrated again at2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing.Oussama Mellouli won the1500m freestyle final after finishing fifth in the400m freestyle.[8][9][10] BoxerWalid Cherif reached theflyweight quarterfinals. InLondon 2012, basketball players and canoeists competed for the first time.Oussama Mellouli won bronze in the1500 meter freestyle and became Olympic champion in the10 km open water swim.[11][12] This makes Mellouli Tunisia's first double Olympic champion.[13][14] He is also the first swimmer to win both indoor (1500m freestyle inBeijing 2008) and outdoor (10 km open water 2012 in London) olympic gold medals.
Track and field athleteHabiba Ghribi took second place in the3,000 meter steeplechase race. The winner, the RussianYuliya Zaripova, was found guilty ofdoping in 2015 and disqualified. Ghribi moved up accordingly and was subsequently declared Olympic champion on 4 June 2016.[15] BoxerMaroua Rahali reached the quarterfinals in theflyweight division. The Tunisian fencer also achieved top placements.Inès Boubakri was sixth in the foil, epee fencerSarra Besbes eighth, her sisterAzza Bebes ninth with the sabre.
At2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, the Tunisian team won three bronze medals.Inès Boubakri won her medal infoil fencing,[16]Marwa Amri in freestyle wrestling in the58 kg class andOussama Oueslati inwelterweight taekwondo.[17] Beach volleyball players from Tunisia competed in Rio de Janeiro for the first time. At2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the team won two medals, the gold for the swimmerAhmed Ayoub Hafnaoui,[18][19] who win at themen's 400-metre freestyle and the silver for the taekwondo practitionerMohamed Khalil Jendoubi at themen's 58 kg.[20][21]
At2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Tunisia has three medals at the Games, withFarès Ferjani winning silver in theindividual men's sabre event[22] andMohamed Khalil Jendoubi capturing the bronze in themen's 58 kg event, the latter becoming the first Tunisian to score back-to-back medals in taekwondo during the Olympics.Firas Katoussi would follow suit with the country's first gold medal in theTaekwondo men's 80 kg event.
| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 Rome | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1964 Tokyo | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 29 |
| 1968 Mexico City | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 28 |
| 1972 Munich | 35 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 33 |
| 1976 Montreal | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1980 Moscow | did not participate | |||||
| 1984 Los Angeles | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1988 Seoul | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1992 Barcelona | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 1996 Atlanta | 51 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 71 |
| 2000 Sydney | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 2004 Athens | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| 2008 Beijing | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 52 |
| 2012 London | 83 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 35 |
| 2016 Rio de Janeiro | 61 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 75 |
| 2020 Tokyo | 63 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 58 |
| 2024 Paris | 26 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 52 |
| 2028 Los Angeles | future event | |||||
| 2032 Brisbane | ||||||
| Total | 6 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 70 | |
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Swimming | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
 Athletics | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
 Taekwondo | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
 Fencing | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Boxing | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (6 entries) | 6 | 4 | 8 | 18 |
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Gold medalists |  | |
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Silver medalists | ||
Bronze medalists | ||
