Although its official name at the time was the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, Yugoslavia first competed at the Olympics in 1920, althoughSerbia had already been represented by two athletes in 1912 at Stockholm. From 1920-1988, Yugoslavia appeared at every Summer Olympic celebration, although in 1932 it was represented by a lone track & field athlete. It first appeared at the Olympic Winter Games at their inception in 1924 and has returned every four years with the exception of 1932 and 1960.

In the early 1990s, a civil war caused the country to fall apart.Croatia,Slovenia andBosnia and Herzegovina competed independently from 1992 on. Due to a United Nations resolution, athletes from the other republics were forced to compete in Barcelona asIndividual Olympic Participants under the Olympic Flag. In 1996, a team again appeared at the Olympics under the name Yugoslavia, but this was essentially the nation later known asSerbia and Montenegro. Macedonia, the remaining republic, appeared independently under the politically correct name of theFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), eventually to become North Macedonia in February 2019.

Between 1920 and 1988, Yugoslavia won a total of 87 Olympic medals, including 26 golds. Their athletes excelled in wrestling, artistic gymnastics, and boxing.Leon Štukelj, from present-day Slovenia, won six medals in gymnastics, three of them gold.He was trailed by sprint canoeistMatija Ljubek, from present-day Croatia, with four medals and two golds.

Four of the 87 medals were won at the Winter Olympics, two in Alpine skiing and two in ski jumping. Ski jumperMatjaž Debelak was the only Yugoslav Winter Olympian with two medals, a silver and a bronze at the 1988 Winter Olympics.