Syrian Arab Republic

The National Olympic Committee of Syria was formed in 1948 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 31 January 1948 at the IOC session in St. Moritz. Syria sent one athlete to the 1948 Olympic Games. In 1960, the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) (UAR) competed at Rome with 74 athletes. Syria was a member of the UAR at that time and Syrian officials have variably listed 1 to 3 of the UAR athletes as Syrian, although none of them appear to have competed. Syria and Egypt split their political alliance in 1961 and Syria did not compete in the 1964 Olympic Games. It returned to the Olympic fold in 1968, and has since missed only 1976. It has yet to compete at an Olympic Winter Games. It has so far won three Olympics medals, the first coming in 1984 (Joseph Atiyeh, silver in freestyle heavyweight wrestling), followed by Ghada Shouaa’s gold in 1996 (women’s heptathlon) and Naser El-Shami in 2004 (bronze, heavyweight boxing).