Athletes from the Palestinian territories, represented by the Palestine Olympic Committee and competing as Palestine, participated in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States.
Palestine is represented on the International Olympic Committee by the Palestine Olympic Committee. The Palestine Olympic Committee, which has sent teams to compete at each Summer Olympics since 1996 under the IOC country code PLE. Palestine has been recognized as a member of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since 1986, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1995.
Palestine competed at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, held in Singapore from 14 August to 26 August 2010.
Mauritania competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation at London marked its eighth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics. The delegation included two track and field athletes, Jidou El Moctar and Aicha Fall, who were selected to the team by wildcard places, as the nation had no athletes that met either the "A" or "B" qualifying standards. Moctar was selected as flag bearer for the opening ceremony while a LOCOG Games Maker carried it for the closing ceremony. Neither of the two athletes progressed beyond the heats.
