Kosovo at the 2016 Summer Olympics
| Kosovo at the 2016 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | KOS | ||||||||
| NOC | Olympic Committee of Kosovo | ||||||||
| Website |
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| in Rio de Janeiro | |||||||||
| Competitors | 8 in 5 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | Majlinda Kelmendi | ||||||||
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Medals Ranked 54th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
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| Other related appearances | |||||||||
 Yugoslavia (1920–1992W) Independent Olympic Participants (1992S) Serbia and Montenegro (1996–2006) Serbia (2008-2012) |
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Kosovo competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was Kosovo's first participation in the Olympics since gaining membership by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December 2014.
Serbia protested Kosovo's admission to the IOC, as it officially claims that Kosovo is an autonomous province of Serbia. However, Serbia, considering the harmful effects of Yugoslavia's expulsion in 1992, decided against boycotting the 2016 Rio Olympics as a consequence. Kosovo is currently recognised as a state by 110 UN member states.
The Olympic Committee of Kosovo sent a total of eight athletes, three men and five women, to compete in five sports at the nation's maiden Games. Most of them were awarded places in their respective sporting events through wild card entries and Tripartite Commission invitations. Two Kosovar athletes, on the other hand, qualified directly for the Olympics on merit: judoka Nora Gjakova (women's 57 kg) and Majlinda Kelmendi (women's 52 kg), the lone returning Olympian on the team after representing Albania four years earlier in London. The world's top-ranked judoka in her weight category and the frontrunner for the country's first Olympic medal, Kelmendi was selected to become Kosovo's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.
Kosovo left Rio de Janeiro with its first ever Olympic gold medal, won by Kelmendi.
Kosovar athletes have achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):
Kosovo has received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a rider competing in the men's road race to the Olympics.
Kosovo has qualified two judokas for each of the following weight classes at the Games. Nora Gjakova and Majlinda Kelmendi, who previously represented Albania at the 2012 Summer Olympics, were ranked among the top 14 for women in the IJF World Ranking List of May 30, 2016.
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