2024 Summer Olympics Athlete Participation by Country

Key points from the infographic

• The graphic gives a snapshot of the Paris 2024 Games (202 countries, 10,500 Olympians and 329 medal events) alongside Summer Olympics history.
• It counts 19 host countries across 5 continents and notes that 2024 was Paris’s third Games.
• Athletics, gymnastics and swimming are shown as the sports with the most participants overall.
• Record holders shown are Michael Phelps (28 medals), Marjorie Gestring (youngest gold medallist), Ian Millar (most appearances) and Oscar Swahn (oldest gold medallist).
• Charts track the most successful nations, the mean age of medallists, the countries with the most Olympians and the rise in female athletes.

The Summer Olympics infographic in text

Title. The Summer Olympics, with the Olympic rings.

Countries that have hosted a Summer Olympics. A world map with host countries in green. 19 countries across 5 continents. This will be the 3rd time the Olympics are hosted in Paris.

2024 Edition. 202 countries participating. 10,500 Olympians competing. 329 medal events.

Most popular sports (overall participants). Athletics 33,329. Gymnastics 21,627. Swimming 20,003.

Medal Machine. Most Olympic medals: Michael Phelps (USA), swimming, 28 medals.

Starting early. Youngest gold medal recipient: Marjorie Gestring (USA), diving, 13 years.

A familiar face. Most Olympic appearances: Ian Millar (CAN), equestrian (1972 to 1976, 1984 to 2012).

Still got it. Oldest gold medal recipient: Oscar Swahn (SWE), shooting, 72 years.

Most successful nations. A line chart of medals per Games from about 1896 to 2016 for the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Australia. The United States leads in most years and peaks near 350 around 1984. A note says 65 nations boycotted the 1980 Olympics in protest, with an arrow to the US dip.

Mean age of medal winners. Lines for gold, silver and bronze, rising from about 23 to a peak near 30 around 1920, falling to about 24 in the 1970s and 1980s, and rising again to about 26.

Olympian powerhouses (most Olympians representing a country). Bars for the USA (about 14,500), France (about 10,000), Italy (about 8,000), Germany (about 7,500) and Australia (about 7,000). Values are read from the bar lengths; none are printed.

The rise in female Olympians. Male athletes rise to about 8,000 per Games; female athletes climb from near zero to about 6,000 by 2016.

Olympian distribution by sex. Ten figures per row: 1970, 8 male and 2 female; 2016, 6 male and 4 female.

2024 Summer Olympics athlete participation by country

The graphic gives totals only. Wikipedia’s article on the Paris Games puts the final figures at 10,714 athletes from 204 nations, including the Individual Neutral Athletes and the Refugee Olympic Team, competing in 329 events in 32 sports [1]. Paris 2024 was the first Olympics to reach full gender parity on the field of play [1].

The largest teams, from Wikipedia’s list of participating National Olympic Committees with the number of athletes each sent [1]:

Of the 206 National Olympic Committees, 204 were represented, with 54 from Africa, 48 from Europe, 44 from Asia, 41 from the Americas and 17 from Oceania [1]. Athletes from Russia and Belarus took part as Individual Neutral Athletes after their committees were suspended [1].

Notes on this infographic

• Oscar Swahn. The graphic says he won gold at 72. He won gold at 64 years and 258 days in 1912, still the record for the oldest gold medallist. At 72, in 1920, he won silver, which makes him the oldest medallist [3].
• Marjorie Gestring. She won springboard diving gold in 1936 at 13 years and 268 days, then the youngest gold medallist ever. Wikipedia now lists her as the second-youngest [4].
• Ian Millar. His record of 10 Olympic appearances is shared with the Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze [5].
• Paris 2024 totals. The 202 countries and 10,500 athletes look like figures from before the Games. The final figures were 204 nations and 10,714 athletes [1].
• 1980 boycott. The graphic says 65 nations boycotted. Wikipedia says more than 60 countries joined the US-led boycott to varying degrees [6].
• Host countries. The 19 countries across 5 continents and Paris’s third Games (after 1900 and 1924) are correct [2].
• Phelps. His 28 medals (23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) match Wikipedia’s list [7].
• No source or maker is printed. The charts stop at about 2016, which suggests a historical results dataset, and the sport participant totals (athletics 33,329 and so on) could not be checked against any source we opened.

Questions about Summer Olympics participation

How many countries participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics?

Wikipedia counts 204 nations, including the Individual Neutral Athletes and the Refugee Olympic Team, from 206 National Olympic Committees [1]. The graphic, made before the Games, gives 202.

How many people participate in the Olympics?

The Paris 2024 Summer Games had 10,714 athletes [1]. The previous Summer Games, in Tokyo in 2021, had 11,319 competitors from 206 nations [2].

Which country hosted the 2024 Summer Olympics?

France, with Paris as host city. It was Paris’s third Summer Olympics, after 1900 and 1924, making it the second city to host three times after London [1].

Sources

1. Wikipedia, 2024 Summer Olympics.
2. Wikipedia, Summer Olympic Games.
3. Wikipedia, Oscar Swahn.
4. Wikipedia, Marjorie Gestring.
5. Wikipedia, Ian Millar.
6. Wikipedia, 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.
7. Wikipedia, List of multiple Olympic medalists.

Last reviewed 30 October 2026