Namibia (NAM)

Namibia’s National Olympic Committee was founded on 28 May 1990 and fully recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its summer session in Birmingham on 16 June 1991. This was an unexpected move by the IOC as Namibia (previously known as South-West Africa) became independent from South Africa only on 21 March 1990 and South Africa was still banned from the Olympic movement at that time.

Namibia’s first appearances happened at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, where sprinter Frankie Fredericks won two silver medals at each Olympics, earning Namibia’s first four Olympic medals. In 2004, he became the nation’s first IOC member. Namibia has not yet competed at the Olympic Winter Games, but it has competed at all Summer Games between 1992 and 2020. At Tokyo 2020, 18-year-old Christine Mboma won the fifth silver medal for Namibia, in the women’s 200 metres.