Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece from 13 to 29 August 2004. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era. The Australian Olympic Committee sent a total of 470 athletes to the Games to compete in 29 sports.
South Africa competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's sixteenth overall and fourth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-apartheid era. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) sent a total of 106 athletes to the Games, 66 men and 40 women, to compete in 19 sports. Field hockey was the only team-based sport in which South Africa had its representation at these Games. There was only a single competitor in archery, canoeing, diving, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, judo, sailing, shooting, taekwondo, and wrestling.
China competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's ninth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1952. A total of 384 Chinese athletes, 136 men and 248 women, were selected by the Chinese Olympic Committee to compete in 28 sports. For the third time in its Olympic history, China was represented by more female than male athletes.
Spain competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from August 13 to 29, 2004. This nation has competed in every Summer Olympic Games since its official debut in 1920. Spain, however, boycotted two editions, the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany, and the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, as a protest to the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Spanish Olympic Committee sent the nation's third largest delegation in history to the Games. A total of 317 athletes, 177 men and 140 women, competed in 26 sports.
Belgium competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. 96 Belgians took part in Beijing, the biggest delegation for the country since 1976. Belgium won 2 gold medals, better achievement than in 2004, when the country won 1 gold and 2 bronze medals.
Japan competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The delegation of athletes and officials were represented by the Japanese Olympic Committee.
Germany competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. A total of 439 athletes were nominated to participate in the Games. The German Olympic Sports Confederation nominated athletes on 29 May, 23 June and 15 July 2008. Reaching the qualification standard set by the relevant sport's international governing body did not automatically mean that the athlete was nominated for Beijing, as the DOSB had stricter qualification standards. An athlete needed to have a somewhat realistic chance for a top 12 position. An exception to this are the team events, as the number of competing teams is already very limited through the IOC standards, and a chance for a respective place is already given by the qualification.
Croatia competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Italy competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China. The country sent a delegation of 344 athletes to compete.
China was the host nation of the 2008 Summer Olympics. China was represented by the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), and the team of selected athletes were officially known as Team China.
Spain competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China, with a total of 286 athletes and competed in 25 sports.
New Zealand took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country sent 182 competitors, making this its largest ever delegation to the Olympic Games. It was also one of the most successful, equalling New Zealand's combined medal tally from the previous two Summer games. On 16 August – dubbed "Super Saturday" by journalists – New Zealand had its greatest single day at any Olympics, winning 5 medals: two gold, one silver and two bronze. New Zealand also gained its first Olympic track medal since 1976 when Nick Willis won the silver medal in the men's 1500 metres, becoming the sixth New Zealander to win an Olympic medal in that event. The success at the Olympics has boosted Athletics participation since then.
The Netherlands competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This was announced in an official statement on the NOC*NSF website. In the statement they named the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games as a highlight in sports to which a lot of sportspeople, coaches and the Dutch sports fans would look forward. The Netherlands aimed for a top 10 nations ranking in the Olympics as well as a top 25 ranking in the Paralympics; they ended up ranking 12th at the Games.
South Korea competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This is a list of all of the South Korean athletes who qualified for the Olympics and their results. South Korea sent a delegation of 267 athletes to these games.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. They ranked third in the medal table by the number of gold (24) and overall (60) medals. Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics.
Poland competed at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. The country's delegation included 268 athletes.
Greece competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. They were represented by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which announced on July 28, 2008, the 156 Greek athletes to compete in Beijing, composed of 84 men and 72 women, the largest Greek Olympic team ever excluding the home team of the Athens 2004 Olympics. Greece took part in archery, athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, gymnastics, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Hungary competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country sent 131 individual competitors plus the men's and women's water polo teams and the women's handball team for a total of 171 athletes taking part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hungary's gold medal count of 3 was the lowest in the nation's Summer Olympic history since the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics. Its total medal count of 10 was the lowest since the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
Argentina competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China, from 8 to 24 August 2008. 137 athletes qualified for the Olympic Games in 19 sports. Manu Ginóbili, basketball player and gold medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, was the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Algeria competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from 8 to 24 August 2008.
