Azerbaijan (AZE)

From 1952-1988 athletes from Azerbaijan formed part of the Soviet Union Olympic team and at Barcelona in 1992, four Azerbaijani athletes were chosen for the Unified Team. During this time the most successful Azerbaijanis have been the volleyballer Inna Ryskal (two gold and two silver between 1964 and 1976), the gymnast Valery Belenky (one gold and one silver in 1992) as well as the sprinter Yury Konovalov, who won two silver medals in 1956 and 1960.

After independence in 1991, a National Olympic Committee was established on 21 September 1992. As Azerbaijan had already applied for recognition in January 1992 (before forming their NOC), provisional and conditional recognition was granted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 9 March 1992. Full recognition followed at the IOC session in Monte Carlo, on 23 September 1993. Azerbaijan first competed as an independent nation at the 1996 Olympic Games. The nation has since competed at all Olympic and Olympic Winter Games.

Through 2022, Azerbaijani athletes have won 49 Olympic medals, including seven gold medals, all in the Summer Games. The most successful athletes have been the freestyle wrestlers Namiq Abdullayev and Toğrul Əsgərov, who both won a gold and a silver medal each. Two athletes have won three or more medals for Azerbaijan and they are also wrestlers: Mariya Stadnik (two silver and two bronze between 2008 and 2020) and Xetaq Qazyumov (one silver and two bronze between 2008 and 2016).

Azerbaijan has competed at the Olympic Winter Games continuously since 1998, with 15 athletes to date, nine men and six women. They have not yet won a Winter Olympic medal. Their best finish to date was 12th in 2014 ice dancing, by Yuliya Zlobina and Aleksey Sitnikov.

Baku did bid to host the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games but did not advance to the final round of voting.