In October 1948, the National Sports Confederation of Ethiopia (CNSE) was formed. This organisation proposed a motion for recognition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 9 December 1953, which was granted on 15 May 1954, at the IOC Session in Athens. An independent Ethiopian Olympic Committee was created on 25 June 1968. Ethiopia made its first Olympic appearance in 1956. It has since missed the 1976, 1984, and 1988 Olympics, all due to political boycotts, making Ethiopia one of only three nations – withEgypt and theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) – to have boycotted three Olympic Games. Through 2022, Ethiopia has won 58 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold, all in track & field athletics.

Its top athletes have been distance runners, led by their great marathonerAbebe Bikila,Olympic marathon champion in 1960 and1964, usually considered one of the two greatest marathoners ever (withEliud Kipchoge of Kenya).

Tirunesh Dibaba leads the Ethiopian medal list with three golds and three bronze on the women’s side from 2004 to 2016, followed byKenenisa Bekele with two golds and one silver, both in distance-running events.

Ethiopia did compete at the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games, both times represented solely by cross-country skierRobel Teklemariam. His best performance came in his first appearance, finishing 83rd of 99 competitors in the 15 kilometres event.