How Many Countries and Athletes Are in the 2024 Olympics?

Paris 2024 will host plenty of NOCs and athletes.

Josh Wilson | Jul 27, 2024

Jul 24, 2024; Paris, France; Tourists look at the Eiffel Tower before the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games. Mandatory Credit: Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports / Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports

As the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony took place down the Seine, boats featuring athletes participating in Paris 2024 were featured for those in attendance and watching on television.

You might be wondering: Exactly how many countries are represented, and how many athletes are there?

How many countries are in the 2024 Olympics?

National Olympic Committees for nations and territories globally send athletes to the Olympics. Athletes from 200-plus (206 to be exact) NOCs will participate, including the IOC Refugee Team.

What is the IOC Refugee Team?

The IOC Refugee Team has been in place since 2016 in Rio, and provides a team for displaced refugees a team to compete with. Dakar will also feature an IOC Refugee Team in 2026.

The International Olympic Committee President, Thomas Bach, had this to say about the Refugee Team:

"The IOC Refugee Olympic Team sends a great signal about what an enrichment refugees are for our Olympic community and for society at large. Watching them compete is a great moment for all of us, and we hope everyone will join. The athletes are welcome in our Olympic community, among their fellow athletes – competing with them, but also living with them together under one roof."

The IOC Refugee Team features 37 athletes this year.

How many athletes are in the 2024 Olympics?

The list is still being finalized, and can be seen here on the Olympics website. On Friday afternoon, nearly 11,000 athletes were listed as participants in the 2024 games.

Published Jul 26, 2024|Modified Jul 27, 2024

JOSH WILSON

Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.