Kosovo at the Olympics

From the 1920 Summer Olympics to the 1992 Winter Olympics, athletes born in Kosovo participated as part of the Yugoslavian team. In the 1960 Summer Olympics, three football players born in Kosovo (Milutin Šoškić, Fahrudin Jusufi, and Vladimir Durković) won gold as part of the Yugoslavian national football team.[2] In the 1984 Summer Olympics, boxer Aziz Salihu became the first individual athlete from Kosovo to win an Olympic medal, a bronze in the super heavyweight class. Kosovo Albanian Luan Krasniqi won a bronze medal representing Germany in heavyweight boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.[3][4] Fatmire Alushi, who was born in Istog, Kosovo, won a bronze medal while playing on the German women’s football team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. [5] Kosovo Albanian Kosovare Asllani won silver medals twice in Football at the Summer Olympics, first at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, representing the Sweden women's national football team. She achieved this feat again in the women’s tournament in Tokyo.[6]

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Olympic Committee of Kosovo (OCK) was established 1992.[7] However, only Kosovo Serb athletes participated as part of the Olympic teams of Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia. On 17 February 2008, the Kosovan Parliament declared independence from Serbia. World junior champion in judo, Majlinda Kelmendi, qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics. She wanted to compete under the flag of Kosovo, but OCK was not recognized by International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the time. Also, the IOC turned down Kelmendi's request to compete as an independent athlete. Kelmendi chose instead to represent Albania.[8]

In April 2013, the Brussels Agreement was concluded between the Serbian and Kosovan governments. Kosovo was recognised as a provisional member of the IOC on 22 October 2014, before becoming a full member on 9 December 2014.[9] At that time, Kosovo was not a member or observer state of the United Nations, but it had gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 97 out of 193 UN member states. Kelmendi, who had gone on to become World and European judo champion in 2013 and 2014, carried Kosovo's flag during the Parade of Nations in the opening ceremonies in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.[10]

Serbia protested Kosovo's admission to the IOC, as it officially claims that Kosovo is an autonomous province of Serbia. However, Serbia, considering the harmful effects of Yugoslavia's expulsion in 1992, decided against boycotting the 2016 Summer Olympics as a consequence.[11]

Kosovo competed for the first time as an recognized Olympic nation at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In total eight athletes competed in various sports for Kosovo. Kosovo won one gold medal by Kelmendi in the women’s -52kg class, the first Olympic medal for Kosovo in its history.[12]

The Olympic Committee of Kosovo made its Winter Olympic debut at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang. Albin Tahiri was the flag-bearer at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[13]

Kosovo competed in the Tokyo Games in 2021, with five male and six female competitors. Majlinda Kelmendi and Akil Gjakova were the flag-bearers in the Parade of Nations.

Kosovo won two gold medals in the 2020 Summer Olympics, both in judo. Distria Krasniqi won the first gold medal for Kosovo in women’s -48kg event.[14] Nora Gjakova won the second gold medal for Kosovo in the women’s -57kg event,[15] the third gold medal overall for Kosovo at the Olympic Games.

• "Kosovo". International Olympic Committee. 23 September 2021.
• "Kosovo". Olympedia.com.
• "Olympic Analytics/KOS". olympanalyt.com.
• Official website