Ethiopia (ETH)

In October 1948 the National Sports Confederation of Ethiopa (CNSE) was formed. This organisation proposed a motion for recognition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 9 December 1953 which was granted on 15 May 1954 at the IOC session in Athens. An independent Ethiopian Olympic Committee was created on 25 June 1968. Ethiopia made its first Olympic appearance in 1956. It has since missed the 1976, 1984, and 1988 Olympics, all due to political boycotts, making Ethiopia one of only three nations – with Egypt and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) – to have boycotted three Olympic Games. Through 2016, Ethiopia has won 54 Olympic medals, 22 of them gold, all in track & field athletics. Its top athletes have been distance runners. Heading this list is Abebe Bikila, Olympic marathon champion in 1960 and 1964, and often considered the greatest marathoner of all-time, although now rivalled by Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge. Ethiopia did compete at the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Winter Games, both times represented solely by cross-country skier Robel Teklemariam.