Olympic history of Benin

BEN

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The umbrella organization of the Benin Olympic movement is the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Béninois (CNOS). The CNOS was founded in 1962 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that same year .

The country's athletes have been taking part in the Summer Olympics since 1972. No athletes have yet been sent to the Winter Olympics. So far (as of 2017) no medals have been won.

prehistory

One and a half years after the country gained independence from France under the name Dahomey, the idea of ​​independent membership in the Olympic family arose. In February 1962 the IOC Secretariat was informed of these plans. Finally, on May 5, 1962, the representatives of seven national sports associations (athletics, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, volleyball and tennis) came together to found the Comité Olympique Dahoméen . They elected Justin Durand , President of the Athletics Federation, to be their chairman. Adolphe Santos , President of the Volleyball Association, was appointed General Secretary . One month later, the participants in the 59th session of the IOC in Moscow approved Dahomey's application for admission.

1970s

Athletes from Benin took part for the first time at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . The three-man team, two boxers and one athlete, competed in Munich under the name Dahomey . The first Olympian was the bantamweight boxer Leopold Agbazo on August 27, 1972. No athletes were sent to the 1976 Games in Montreal , and the country responded to calls for a boycott by African countries.

1980s

In 1980 in Moscow with 16 athletes, the country's largest team to date (as of 2017) took part in the Olympic Games, this time under the country name of Benin , which has been retained since then. A woman from Benin started for the first time in Moscow. On July 25, 1980 Edwige Bancole competed in the 100-meter run.

In 1984 in Los Angeles three boxers took part, in 1988 in Seoul a judoka from Benin competed for the first time.

1992 until today

2016 invasion of Rio, led by the standard bearer, the fencer Yémi Apithy

In 1992 in Barcelona , cyclists from Benin started for the first time. After only track and field athletes took part in Atlanta in 1996 , a tennis player and a taekwondoin competed in Sydney for the first time in 2000 . For the first time swimmers were sent to the 2004 Games in Athens and a fencer for the first time to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro .

Olympic Academy and Olympic Museum

On October 30, 1985, the Olympic Academy of the People's Republic of Benin was opened in Cotonou in the presence of the IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch , which has since offered students seminars and colloquia on sports-related topics. On June 12, 1988, an Olympic Museum was inaugurated in the Benin capital . It depicts the country's Olympic history through biographies, stamp collections and a collection of pins .

General overview

Summer games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports								Medals
	total	m	w													total	rank
1896-1968	not participated
1972	3	3	0		1	2
1976	not participated
1980	16	15th	1	Étienne Loco Gbodolle	9	7th
1984	3	3	0	Firmin Abissi		3
1988	7th	6th	1	Félicite Bada	6th		1
1992	6th	4th	2	Sonya Agbéssi	4th			2
1996	5	4th	1	Laure Kuetey	5
2000	4th	3	1	Laure Kuetey	2				1	1
2004	4th	2	2	Fabienne Féraez	2						2
2008	5	3	2	Fabienne Féraez	2				1		2
2012	5	4th	1	Jacob Gnahoui	2	1	1				1
2016	6th	4th	2	Yémi Apithy	2		1				2	1
total													0	0	0	0	-

Winter games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports	Medals
	total	m	w						total	rank
1924-2018	not participated
total						0	0	0	0	-

List of medal winners

Gold medals

So far (as of 2017) no gold medals

Silver medals

So far (as of 2017) no silver medals

Bronze medals

So far (as of 2017) no bronze medals

Web links

• Benin in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Benin on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)