List of Olympic Games boycotts

While all countries are normally eligible to compete in the Olympic Games, there have been several instances of nations boycotting or being barred from participation, often in protest to decisions made by the International Olympic Committee.

Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire were not invited to attend the 1920 Antwerp games in Belgium, having lost World War I.^[1][2]

South Africa were not invited to the 1964 Games, while its invitation to the 1968 Games was withdrawn after several other African countries threatened to boycott the Games due to apartheid. South Africa would not be permitted to return to the Olympics until 1992.

Rhodesia was also prevented from entering the 1972 Summer Olympics when its invitation was withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee following protests by other African countries.^[3]

Possibly the most famous Olympic boycotts occurred in 1980 and 1984, due to the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. Iran and Albania are the only countries that boycotted both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. Albania is also the only country that boycotted the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics.

In 2021, several nations announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics to protest against Chinese mistreatment of the Uyghur population, thus prohibiting many government officials from attending the games in an official capacity, while still permitting athletes to compete.^[4] Later, India joined the boycott over China's decision to choose Qi Fabao, a regimental commander in the People's Liberation Army, as a torchbearer for the event.^[5][6]

List of full boycotts of an Olympic Games or full non-attendance

Olympiad	Host City	Host Country	Year	No. boycotts	Boycotting countries
					List	Map
XVI	Melbourne	Australia	1956	12	Egypt  Iraq  Lebanon  Liechtenstein  Monaco  Netherlands  Netherlands Antilles  Cambodia  Panama  Spain  Switzerland  China
XVIII	Tokyo	Japan	1964	3	North Korea  Indonesia  China
XXI	Montreal	Canada	1976	37	Afghanistan  Albania  Algeria  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  Central African Republic  Chad  Republic of the Congo  Egypt  Ethiopia  Gabon  Gambia  Ghana  Guyana  Iraq  Kenya  Libya  Lesotho  Madagascar  Malawi  Mali  Morocco  Myanmar  Niger  Nigeria  Somalia  Sri Lanka  Sudan  Eswatini  Syria  Chinese Taipei  Tanzania  Togo  Tunisia  Uganda  Zambia
XXII	Moscow	Soviet Union	1980	67	Albania[a] Antigua and Barbuda  Argentina  Bahamas Bahrain  Bangladesh  Barbados  Belize  Bermuda  Bolivia  Canada  Cayman Islands  Central African Republic  Chad  Chile  China  Egypt  El Salvador  Fiji  Gabon  Gambia  Ghana  Haiti  Honduras  Hong Kong  Indonesia  Iran  Israel  Ivory Coast  Japan  Kenya  South Korea  Liberia  Liechtenstein  Malawi  Malaysia  Mauritania  Monaco  Mauritius  Morocco  Netherlands Antilles  Niger North Yemen  Norway  Pakistan  Panama  Papua New Guinea  Paraguay  Philippines  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Singapore  Somalia  Sudan  Suriname  Eswatini  Chinese Taipei[b]  Thailand  Togo  Tunisia  Turkey  United Arab Emirates  United States  United States Virgin Islands  Uruguay  West Germany  Zaire
XXIII	Los Angeles	United States	1984	19	Afghanistan  Albania[a]  Angola  Burkina Faso  Bulgaria  Cuba  Czechoslovakia  East Germany  Ethiopia  Hungary  Iran  Laos  Libya  Mongolia  North Korea  Poland  South Yemen  Soviet Union  Vietnam
XXIV	Seoul	South Korea	1988	7	Albania[c]  Angola  Cuba  Ethiopia[c]  Iran  Burkina Faso  Libya Madagascar[d] Nicaragua[d] North Korea Seychelles[c]

List of non-attendance of government officials or diplomatic boycotts of the Olympic Games

The following is the list of countries that did not send official delegations to the Games, but permitted their athletes to participate.

Games	Host City	Host Country	Year	Boycotting countries
				List	Map
XXXII Olympic Summer Olympics	Tokyo	Japan	2020	North Korea[e]
XXIV Olympic Winter Games	Beijing	China	2022	Lithuania[8] United States[9] Australia[10] United Kingdom[11] Canada[12] Kosovo[13] Belgium[14] Estonia[15] Taiwan[16] Denmark[17] India[18]

Other

During the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Russia, the United States and United Kingdom diplomatically boycotted the event, and the entire Ukrainian delegation except for their flagbearer boycotted the opening ceremony due to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the violation of the Olympic Truce.

Notes

1. Albania withdrew from participation at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics without giving any reasons.
2. Taiwan boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics by protesting the Nagoya Resolution designating it as "Chinese Taipei"
3. Albania, Ethiopia and Seychelles did not respond to invitation for the 1988 Olympics.
4. Madagascar and Nicaragua cancelled participation at the 1988 Summer Olympics for financial reasons.
5. North Korea cancelled participation at the 2020 Summer Olympics for medical reasons.^[7]