Brazil (BRA)

The Confederação Brasileira de Desportos (CBD), founded on 20 August 1914, was the first sporting body from Brazil affiliated with the Olympics. The National Olympic Committee of Brazil was formed on 20 May 1935 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later that year. Brazil has competed at every Olympics since 1920, with the sole exception of 1928.

Brazil’s successes have come in a variety of disciplines. It has won medals in several different sports, and has always had one of the top basketball, volleyball, and football (soccer) teams. Through 2022, Brazilian athletes have won 150 Olympic medals, 37 of them gold, all at the Summer Olympics, the most medals of any South American country. Their best performance came at Tokyo 2020, with 21 medals and seven golds, surpassing the 2016 Games, where they were hosts and won 19 medals (and also seven gold).

Robert Scheidt, a sailor, is the most successful Brazilian Olympian with two gold-two silver-one bronze. Another sailor, Torben Grael, has also won five medals (two gold-one silver-two bronze), while swimmer Gustavo Borges, volleyballer Serginho, and canoeist Isaquias Queiroz have won four medals each.

Brazil has competed nine times at the Olympic Winter Games, continuously since 1992. Not well known is that there has been one edition of the Pan American Winter Games, in 1990, at La Lleñas, Argentina, and Brazil also sent skiers to that event. They have competed in eight Olympic Winter disciplines: Alpine skiing, cross-country, and freestyle skiing; biathlon, bobsleigh, figure skating, luge, skeleton, and snowboarding.

Two Brazilians have competed five times at the Winter Olympics. Edson Bindilatti was a bobsledder in 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018, and 2022; and Jaque Mourão competed in biathlon in 2014, but also competed in cross-country skiing in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. Mourão has actually competed at seven different Olympic Games, as she participated in mountain biking in 2004, 2008, and 2020, at the Summer Olympics. She is one of only two Olympians to compete at both editions of the Olympic Games in three different disciplines (along with Canadian Georgia Simmerling in Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, and track cycling).

After being chosen at the 2009 Olympic Congress, Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2016 Olympic Games.