Albania first officially competed at the
Munich 1972 Summer Olympics with five participants over two events;
Fatos Pilkati and
Afërdita Tusha in the
mixed 50 metre free pistol,
Ismail Rama and
Beqir Kosova in the
mixed 50 metre rifle, prone, and
Ymer Pampuri in the
men's 60 kg weightlifting. The weightlifter
Ymer Pampuri became the first and only Albanian to break an Olympic record, in military press, after lifting 127.5 kg respectively. In the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics Albania sent 7 athletes:
Alma Qeramixhi competed in the
heptathlon;
Kristo Robo in the
25 metre rapid fire pistol;
Enkelejda Shehu in the
25 metre pistol;
Frank Leskaj in the
50 metre freestyle,
100 metre freestyle, and
100 metre breaststroke;
Sokol Bishanaku and
Fatmir Bushi in the under 67.5 kg weightlifting; and
Dede Dekaj in the under 110 kg weightlifting. For the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Albania sent seven athletes—4 female and 3 male.
Mirela Manjani was the flag bearer for the Olympic Games that year. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Albania's delegation consisted of two male and two female athletes. They had seven competitors (two female, five male) in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. In Beijing at the 2008 Summer Olympics, the nation sent eleven athletes (four female and seven male), their highest ever total. For the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Albania sent nine athletes consisting of three women and six men.
Romela Begaj, who was the flag bearer for Albania at the
2012 Summer Olympics, competed in the
women's 58 kg weightlifting category finishing in 9th after lifting 216 kg in total.
Briken Calja achieved the best result for Albania at the
2012 Summer Olympics, finishing 6th in
men's 69 kg weightlifting after lifting 320 kg. He competed in the
2016 Summer Olympics, finishing in 5th place in the
men's 69 kg weightlifting after lifting 326 kg. Calja would compete at the following
2020 Summer Olympics in the
men's 73 kg weightlifting category. The European Weightlifting champion in
2018 would finish in 4th after lifting 341 kg. His 4th-place finish was the best result in the history for Albania at the Summer Olympics until 2024. Also, in the 2020 Summer Olympics
Luiza Gega became the first athlete from Albania to qualify for the finals in
athletics. She finished in 5th place in the heats for the
Women's 3000 metres steeplechase with a time of 9:23.85, a season's best. In the final run, Gega finished in 13th place. In the
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Albania won their first-ever medals of the Olympic Games. Two Russian-born athletes with Albanian citizenship,
Chermen Valiev and
Islam Dudaev, won bronze medals competing for Albania in
men's freestyle 74 kg and
men's freestyle 65 kg, respectively.
Participation in Olympic qualifiers In 1964, Albania participated for the first time in
qualifiers for the football tournament at the Olympics.
Albania faced
Bulgaria in the opening round, losing both matches 1–0 and failing to qualify for the next round. Albania participated in the
qualifiers for the football tournament at the
1972 Summer Olympics. They faced
Romania in the opening round, losing both legs 2-1, despite goals from
Medin Zhega and
Panajot Pano, respectively.
Albania men's national basketball team has tried twice to
qualify in
basketball at the Summer Olympics. In 1972, Albania participated in the Olympic qualifiers for
basketball. They played three qualifying matches, losing all three games, however two were close encounters, with Albania losing 83–82 against
Belgium and 84–81 against the
Netherlands. This was Albania's best-ever Olympic qualification attempt in their Basketball History. Albania next participated in the
basketball qualifiers 20 years later in
1992 competing in Group B. Albania secured their first win at this competition against
Switzerland 84–85, which was their only win in their campaign. Albania failed to qualify for the Olympics, with a 5th-place finish in the group. Albania has never participated in an Olympic Team sport discipline. == Albanian international medalists ==