Early appearance and hiatus After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, PRC sent a delegation to the
Olympic Games for the first time at the
1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The Chinese delegation (including athletes and officials) consisted of 38 men and 2 women, including the
men's football team, the
men's basketball team, and one swimmer. Only the swimmer arrived in time to take part in the official competition, and the football team played two friendly matches. The Chinese stayed ten days in Helsinki and participated in the closing ceremony. The Republic of China's (ROC) team withdrew from the Games on July 17 in response to the
IOC's decision to allow both PRC and ROC sportsmen and women to compete. This marked the beginning of the "two Chinas" conflict in the Olympic Movement, which resulted in the
Chinese Olympic Committee's withdrawal from the IOC in August 1958. In the 1970s, China normalized her relations with the United States through
Ping Pong Diplomacy, and established diplomatic relations with the United States on January 1, 1979. The normalization finally led to the
Chinese Olympic Committee's return to the IOC on October 25, 1979. Six medals in a single Olympics is still the record for any Chinese athlete. Chinese women's volleyball team defeated USA women's team in the final and won China's first ball-game gold medal.
1988 China won 5 golds and ranked 11th at the
1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul, South Korea.
Li Meisu won China's first medal in athletics. China also won first medals in rowing. A silver in ''women's coxed fours
and a bronze in women's eights''
1992 China won 16 golds and ranked 4th at the
1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona, Spain.
Chen Yueling won China's first athletics gold medal in ''women's 10 km walk''. Chinese female swimmers glittered with 4 golds and 5 silvers. But the success was later shadowed by the
doping incident of Chinese swimmers just two years later at the
1994 Asian Games, although none of the medalists in 1992 was involved in the 1994 incident.
Deng Yaping won two table tennis golds in ''women's singles
and women's doubles''. IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch presented the gold medal to her after a promise made a year ago at
1991 World Table Tennis Championships.
Zhuang Xiaoyan won China's first judo gold medal in ''women's +72kg''.
Zhang Xiaodong won silver medal in ''women's board (lechner)'', China's first medal in sailing. The Chinese women's basketball team lost in the final to the Unified team, winning a silver medal, China's best result in basketball.
1996 China won 16 golds and ranked 4th again at the
1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta, USA.
Fu Mingxia won two diving golds in ''women's 3 m springboard
and women's 10 m platform'', becoming the first female diver to accomplish this feat since 1960.
Deng Yaping won two golds in table tennis again, making her the first Chinese athlete to defend two events and win four Olympic gold medals. IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch presented the gold medal to her again after a promise made four years ago at 1992 Olympics.
Liu Guoliang also won two table tennis golds in men's events. China won all four golds in table tennis for the first time.
Wang Junxia won gold in ''women's 5000 m
and silver in women's 10000 m''. The Chinese women's football team lost final to the USA team, winning a silver medal, China's first medal in football.
2000 China won 28 golds and ranked 3rd at the
2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney, Australia.
Wang Nan won two golds in table tennis, China again won all four golds in table tennis.
Chen Zhong won China's first taekwondo gold medal in ''women's +67kg''.
Jiang Cuihua won bronze in ''women's track time trial'', China's first medal in cycling
. No ball-games team entered the final four, the worst performance China's since Olympic history.
2004 China won 32 golds and ranked 2nd at the
2004 Summer Olympics at Athens, Greece.
Liu Xiang became the first Chinese male athlete to win gold medal in an Olympic track event,
110 m hurdles, equaling the world record of 12.91 seconds. He became the China's flag bearer at the closing ceremony. Liu broke the world record with 12.88 seconds two years later in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Wang Yifu participated the Olympics for the record six consecutive times. He won gold in
10 m air pistol, his second gold and fourth medal in the event.
Meng Guanliang and
Yang Wenjun won China's first canoeing gold medal in ''men's C-2 500 m''.
Li Ting and
Sun Tiantian won China's first tennis gold medal in ''women's doubles''.
Wang Xu won China's first wrestling gold medal in ''women's freestyle 72 kg''. The Chinese women's volleyball team came back from a 0–2 deficit to defeat Russia women's team 3–2 in the final, winning China's second ball-game gold medal after 20 years.
2008 As the host country, China won 48 golds, 22 silvers and 30 bronze, in total 100 medals, and ranked 1st at the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Guo Jingjing won two golds in diving, becoming the first Chinese diver to defend two events successfully.
Zhang Yining won two golds in table tennis, becoming the second Chinese table tennis player to defend two events successfully after
Deng Yaping.
Ma Lin also won two table tennis golds in men's events. China won all four golds in table tennis for the third time.
Zhong Man won China's first men's fencing gold in ''men's sabre'', 24 years after
Luan Jujie won China's first women's fencing gold in 1984.
Zhang Juanjuan won China's first archery gold in ''women's individual'', breaking the long-time Korean dominance in the sport.
Zou Shiming and
Zhang Xiaoping won China's first boxing golds in men's events.
Yin Jian won China's first sailing gold in sailboard event in ''women's sailboard''. China won first rowing gold in ''women's quadruple sculls''. Chinese gymnasts won 11 golds, the best in history.
Zou Kai won 3 golds in one team event and two individual events. China's top star
Liu Xiang pulled out of the first round of
110 m hurdles due to injury.
2012 China won 38 golds and finished 2nd at the
2012 Summer Olympics in London, Great Britain.
Sun Yang, the men's 1500 m freestyle world-record-holder before the Olympics, became the first Chinese male swimmer to win gold in Olympics. He won two golds in ''men's 400 m freestyle
and men's 1500 m freestyle'', breaking the Olympic record and his own world record respectively.
Ye Shiwen became the first Chinese female swimmer to win two golds in a single Olympics. She won golds in ''women's 200 m medley
and women's 400 m medley'', breaking the Olympic record and world record respectively.
Chen Ding won gold in ''men's 20 km walk'', becoming the second Chinese male athlete to win Olympic athletics gold medal after
Liu Xiang did in 2004.
Chen Ruolin won two golds in diving, becoming the second Chinese diver to defend two events successfully after
Guo Jingjing.
Wu Minxia won diving gold in ''women's sync 3m springboard
, becoming the only Chinese athlete to win three gold medals in a single event. She also won gold in women's 3m springboard'', giving her all three medals in three participations in this event after silver in 2004 and bronze in 2008.
Zou Kai won two golds in gymnastics, becoming the only Chinese athlete to win five gold medals in Olympics.
Xu Lijia won gold in ''women's laser radial class'', China's first gold medal in the sailboat event of sailing. She later became the China's flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Lin Dan won badminton gold in ''men's singles'', becoming the first athlete to defend the men's singles title in Olympic badminton history.
Zhao Yunlei won two golds in two badminton double events, becoming the only athlete to win two badminton gold medals in a single Olympics.
Cao Zhongrong won silver in men's event of modern pentathlon, China's first medal in the sport. The Chinese table tennis team won all four golds for the fourth time. Chinese badminton team won all five golds for the first time, but was shadowed by the disqualification of China's top seed women's double duo for
attempting to purposefully lose. China's top star
Liu Xiang pulled out of the first round of
110 m hurdles due to injury again. Two of his three pull-outs in 12 years' career came from two Olympics first round heats. No Chinese ball-game teams entered the final four, the worst performance in Chinese Summer Olympics history.
2016 China won 26 golds and ranked 3rd at the
2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Sun Yang won a gold medal in men's 200 m freestyle, becoming the only Chinese male swimmer to have won gold in 2 Olympic games.
Gong Jinjie and
Zhong Tianshi won China's first cycling gold medal in ''women's team sprint''.
Feng Shanshan won China's first golf medal.
Dong Bin set a new personal best (17.58 meters) in the men's triple jump event and won a bronze medal. This was China's first medal from Olympic triple jump events. The Chinese women's volleyball team won a third gold medal after 12 years.
Wu Minxia defended her Women's 3m Synchro event for the fourth time, becoming the only Chinese athlete to ever do so. This also makes her the most successful Chinese athlete of all time, with 5 Golds, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze.
2020 China won 38 gold, 32 silver, 18 bronze medals and ranked 2nd at the
2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in August 2021.
Su Bingtian finished the men's 100 m semi-final with a new
Asian Record at 9.83 seconds, and became the first Chinese athlete and second Asian athlete to compete in a 100 m final, in which he finished as the 6th place. He was also the flag bearer in the closing ceremony. With him, Chinese relay team won China's
first medal in athletic relays.
Gong Lijiao won a gold medal in women's shot put and become the first ever Chinese athlete to won a gold medal in any field events and the first Asian to win an Olympic gold medal in women's shot put.
Liu Shiying won a gold medal in women's javelin throw. She became the first Asian and Chinese to win a gold medal in Olympic javelin throw events.
Lü Xiaojun lifted a combined weight of 374 kg to win a gold medal in the men's 81 kg weightlifting event. This was his third Olympic medal. He also became the oldest weightlifter champion (37 years and 4 days) in modern Olympics. He became the first ever Chinese athlete to win
three gold medals in an individual event, after
promoted a gold medal.
2024 China won 40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze medals, and ranked 2nd at the
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France in August 2024, their best result after the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Zheng Qinwen won the gold medal in women's singles tennis, marking China's and Asia's first-ever gold in the Olympic singles tennis event; meanwhile,
Zhang Zhizhen and
Wang Xinyu won the silver in the mixed doubles, making China the most successful team in tennis at this Olympics.
Deng Yawen won China's first gold medal in women's BMX freestyle.
Pan Zhanle won China's first gold in men's 100 m freestyle, breaking Olympic, Asian, and his own world record with a time of 46.40. With him, the Chinese swimming relay team won China's first gold in 4 x 100 m medley relay, topping the American swimming relay team and their undefeated gold when they participated since its introduction.
Chang Yuan,
Wu Yu, and
Li Qian all won gold medals with
Yang Wenlu and
Yang Liu winning silver medals in their respective weight classes, China's best result for boxing. The Chinese diving team won all 8 gold medals in diving, the first all-golds in diving since the introduction of synchronized diving.
Liu Qingyi won a bronze medal in breaking, its inaugural event at the Olympics. The Chinese artistic swimming team won gold in the team event, with
Wang Liuyi and
Wang Qianyi winning gold in the duet event. These were the first golds for China in artistic swimming. The Chinese women's field hockey team won silver, their best result yet. The Chinese table tennis team won all five golds for the first time since the
mixed event addition in 2020.
Ma Long also won his sixth gold medal, putting him as the Chinese Olympian with the most gold medals.
Winter Games Sports summary China won medals in only 6 of the 15 Winter Olympics sports. Most of the golds and half of the medals come from
short track speed skating.
1980–1988 No medals.
1992–1998 Ye Qiaobo won China's first Winter Olympics medal in speed skating.
Chen Lu won consecutive bronze medals in 1994 and 1998, becoming the first Chinese figure skater to medal at the Winter Olympic Games.
2002 Yang Yang (A) won the country's first Winter Olympics gold medal in short track speed skating, as the first gold medal for Team China in Olympic Winter Games.
2006 Han Xiaopeng became the first Chinese male athlete to win a Winter Olympics gold medal in freestyle skiing.
2010 Wang Meng earned three golds in short track speed skating.
Shen Xue and
Zhao Hongbo won figure skating gold in the event of
pair skating, after four prior participations.
Wang Bingyu and her team (
Yue Qingshuang,
Liu Yin,
Zhou Yan and
Liu Jinli) won the first curling Olympic medal for China in the women's tournament.
2014 China won 3 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze medals and ranked 12th at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia in February 2014.
Zhang Hong won the first Chinese gold medal in speed skating.
2018 China won 1 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze medals and ranked 16th at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February 2018.
Liu Jiayu won the country's first ever Olympic medal in snowboarding for China.
Wu Dajing became the first Chinese male short track speed skating Olympic champion by breaking the world record at the 500-metre event.
2022 China won 9 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze medals and ranked 4th at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China in February 2022, as the first ever home winter games.
Ailing Eileen Gu became the first ever freestyle skier to win three medals at one Olympic Game, the first female Chinese gold medalist in freestyle skiing, and the most successful freestyle skier ever in Olympic freestyle skiing event (with 2 gold medals and 1 silver medals).
Yan Wengang won the first ever medal in skeleton for Team China, bronze in men's single.
Xu Mengtao finally won the first ever gold in women's aerial since the first silver medal won by
Xu Nannan in Nagano 1998 and 5 silver medals & 2 bronze medals won by Team China in this event at former games.
Su Yiming became the first Chinese athlete to win a gold in Olympic snowboarding events.
Gao Tingyu became the first Chinese male athlete to win a gold in Olympic speed skating events. ==Medalists==