Palestine was ruled under a British mandate from 1921 through 1948. During those years, Palestine had a National Olympic Committee (NOC). The NOC was formed in 1933 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 16 May 1934, at the IOC Session in Athens, although it never competed at the Olympic Games. The Palestine Olympic Committee was titularly to represent Jews, Muslims, and Christians from the region of Palestine, but the rules of the original Palestine NOC stated that “(they) represent the Jewish National Home”. Thus, that Olympic Committeee was more a precursor of the Israel Olympic Committee than of the current Palestine Olympic Committee.
Palestine currently has no exact geographic boundaries, but its NOC, which was created in 1976, was given provisional recognition by the IOC at its annual meeting in Monte Carlo, in September 1993. This occurred shortly after the historic agreement signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the state of Israel in that same month. Palestine first competed at the Olympic Games in 1996, when it was represented by a single athlete, Majed Abu Maraheel, who finished last in his heat of the 10,000 metres. The nation has competed continuously at the Summer Games since, but it hasn’t participated in an edition of the Winter Olympics.
Palestine has been represented by track & field athletes, swimmers, judokas, equestriennes, and weightlifters. None of its participants has reached the final stage of competition. The nation’s best result came at London 2012, with judoka Maher Abu Rmilah finishing 16th of 34 competitors in the men’s lightweight class.
