Somalia at the Olympics
| Somalia at the Olympics |
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| IOC code | SOM | ||||||||
| NOC | Somali Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website | www |
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| Medals |
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| Summer appearances | |||||||||
Somalia first participated at the Olympic Games at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, West Germany; the Somali Olympic Committee being recognised by the International Olympic Committee shortly prior. The nation has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since then, boycotting in 1976 due to the inclusion of New Zealand, and in 1980 when it joined with the American-led boycott. It also did not compete in 1992 due to the ongoing effects of a famine.
Somalia entered their largest contingent of athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics, a total of seven. Due to the ongoing Somali Civil War, athletes have subsequently had difficulty training in Somalia and many have left to represent other nations, such as Mo Farah who has won four gold medals representing Great Britain. No athlete representing Somalia has yet won a medal at an Olympics, nor taken part in a Winter Games.
The Somali Olympic Committee was first created on 12 December 1959, in Mogadishu, with Ali Omar Seego founding the organisation. It had been hoped that Somalia would be able to take part in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, but after Seego was posted as Somalia's ambassador to Belgium, based in Brussels, those who succeeded him were unable to take the nation to the Games and the Committee was entirely abandoned.
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