Serbia has had a long history at the Olympic Games. Even though Serbia missed the first Olympiad in 1896 in Athens, the nation’s king Aleksandar Obrenović was invited to the games by Greek king George I. In 1912, Serbia was referred to as the Kingdom of Serbia when it made its first appearance in the Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm, with two athletes competing. It would be another 96 years before they competed as Serbia again at the Olympics, in 2008.

From the 1920 Games, athletes from this region represented Yugoslavia, then later as part of Serbia and Montenegro. At the 1992 Summer Olympics Serbian athletes participated as Independent Olympic Participants, as at that time their nation was under United Nations sanctions. The nation formed a tandem with Montenegro when it participated in the Olympics from 1996 to 2004. Montenegro voted for independence in a referendum in 2006 and the state union was dissolved, Serbia continuing as the successor state. So, after 96 years, Serbian athletes again competed under their own flag from 2008 onwards.

In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Its Olympic committee was granted provisional recognition by the IOC on 22 October 2014 and full recognition on 9 December that year, and Kosovo first competed at an Olympic Games in 2016.

Medals as an Independent Nation

Serbia have won medals at every Summer Games since returning in 2008, a total of 28 up to and including Paris 2024.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
2008 Beijing 0 1 2 3 61
2012 London 1 1 2 4 43
2016 Rio de Janeiro 2 4 2 8 32
2020 Tokyo 3 1 4 8 28
2024 Paris 3 1 1 5 27
Total 9 8 11 28

Rio 2016

Serbia sent 103 competitors (58 men and 45 women) in 14 sports to Rio de Janeiro and won 8 medals (2 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes), their best return since the break-up of Yugoslavia at the time. The men's water polo team and the wrestler Davor Štefanek took the golds. Silvers went to the men's basketball team, the women's volleyball team, the taekwondo fighter Tijana Bogdanović and the kayakers Marko Tomićević and Milenko Zorić in the K-2 1000 m, with bronzes for the women's basketball team and the long jumper Ivana Španović, who later competed under her married name, Ivana Vuleta.

Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo Games, postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, brought 87 athletes (43 men and 44 women) in 15 sports and another 8 medals, with Serbia climbing to 28th on the table. Milica Mandić won the women's +67 kg taekwondo title she had first taken in London, Jovana Preković won karate gold in the women's 61 kg in the sport's one appearance on the Olympic programme, and the water polo team successfully defended their title. Damir Mikec took silver in the 10 m air pistol, with bronzes for Tijana Bogdanović in taekwondo, Milenko Sebić in the 50 m rifle three positions, the men's 3x3 basketball team and the women's volleyball team.

Paris 2024

Serbia took 112 athletes (69 men and 43 women) in 15 sports to Paris and came away with 5 medals, 3 of them gold – their equal-best gold haul and their highest placing yet, 27th. Zorana Arunović and Damir Mikec won the mixed 10 m air pistol team event, Novak Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz in the men's singles tennis final to complete a career Golden Slam at the age of 37, and the water polo team won a third consecutive Olympic title. Aleksandra Perišić took silver in the women's −67 kg taekwondo and the men's basketball team won bronze.

Trivia

  • Shooter Jasna Šekarić competed under four different flags at the Olympic Games without ever changing nationality. She competed for Yugoslavia at Seoul in 1988, then under the Olympic flag as an Independent Olympic Participant at Barcelona 1992, then represented the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later called Serbia and Montenegro) at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. In 2008 and 2012 Šekarić competed for Serbia following Montenegro's independence. Across those seven Games she won five medals – air pistol gold and sporting pistol bronze in 1988, and air pistol silver in 1992, 2000 and 2004.
  • The men's water polo team is Serbia's most successful Olympic outfit, winning gold in 2016, 2020 and 2024 after a bronze in 2008 and 2012.
  • Serbia's medal haul at the Tokyo Games was originally nine. The wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili was stripped of his Greco-Roman 87 kg bronze in November 2025, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a five-year doping ban, and the medal was reallocated to Ivan Huklek of Croatia.