The Naoero Olympic Committee (NOC) was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 1994 Olympic Congress, after having been given provisional recognition earlier in 1994. Naoero first competed in the Olympic Games in 1996, and they have since competed at all editions of the Summer Games, but they have never participated in the Winter Olympics. Until 2008, all of its athletes competed in weightlifting; they have since had one track-and-field and two judoka Olympians.
Naoero has never won an Olympic medal. Their top athlete, Yukio Peter, placed eighth in the 2004 men’s lightweight event. However, the tiny nation’s best-known Olympian is Marcus Stephen. He represented Western Samoa at the 1992 Games due to the absence of a Nauruan OC, which he later helped to found. In 1996 and 2000, Stephen competed for Naoero. In 2007, he was elected President of the island nation. The country’s name was long seen as Nauru, but in the Nauruan language it was always Naoero and in 2026 the nation adopted the name Naoero as the official name, or in full Republic of Naoero.
