Germany is one of the strongest countries that has ever participated in the modern Olympics since the first in 1896. Competing under the name Germany, they have won 688 medals at the Summer Games and 293 at the Winter Games, placing them third on the all-time medal tally behind the United States and the Soviet Union – and that is before adding the 900-odd medals won by the separate East and West German teams. In 1936, Germany hosted the Summer Games in Berlin, finishing the top team. West Germany hosted the Games again in 1972 in Munich.

Germany were banned from participating in the Summer Games in 1920, 1924 and 1948 because of the World Wars. In 1952 they returned as a West German team, with Saarland entering separately and East Germany not taking part at all. From 1956 to 1964, even though they were a divided country, athletes from both East and West competed together as the Unified Team of Germany, and from 1968 to 1988 there were two German teams — East Germany and West Germany — in the Summer Olympics.

When they came back as a united Germany in 1992, they made an immediate impact, taking 82 medals and third place in Barcelona. For two decades afterwards they never ranked lower than 6th overall, but the totals have drifted downwards: 42 medals and 5th place in Rio in 2016, then 37 medals and 9th in Tokyo, and 33 medals for 10th in Paris in 2024 – their smallest haul and lowest finish since reunification.

As far as the Winter Games are concerned, Germany made their debut in 1928, not having been invited to the first Winter Games four years earlier, and won their first Olympic medal there, a bronze thanks to their five-man bobsleigh team. They also hosted the 1936 Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where they won a total of 6 Olympic medals (3 gold and 3 silver) and ranked 2nd overall. They were not present in 1948 due to the ban. When they came back as a unified team in 1992, they made quite an impact by raking in 26 medals making them the top team that year. Germany were also the top team in Nagano, Japan (1998) and Turin, Italy (2006), and finished second in 2018 and 2022. At Milano Cortina in 2026 they again won 26 medals, this time for 5th place, with the sliding sports of bobsleigh, luge and skeleton accounting for 19 of them.

Trivia

  • Germany have hosted the Olympic Games three times: the Summer Games in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972, and the Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, also in 1936. Berlin was also selected to host the Games in 1916, but the event was canceled due to WW1.
  • The Munich Games of 1972 are remembered above all for the attack on the Olympic village in which eleven members of the Israeli team were killed.
  • At Barcelona in 1992, Andreas Keller won a gold medal as part of the German field hockey team, and became the third generation of his family to win a medal in the event. His grandfather, Erwin, earned a silver medal in 1936 and his father, Carsten, a gold in 1972.
  • Dressage rider Isabell Werth is the most decorated German Olympian of all, with 14 medals (9 gold, 5 silver) won across seven Games between 1992 and 2024. Canoeist Birgit Fischer is close behind on 11 medals, 8 of them gold, competing first for East Germany in 1980 and 1988 and then for a united Germany through to 2004.
  • Germany is bidding to host the Games once more. The German Olympic Sports Confederation is due to choose between Berlin, Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region on 26 September 2026, with the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Games in its sights.