History

The Olympic Committee of Serbia continued the tradition started with founding of the Serbian Olympic Club on 23^rd February, 1910. In 1911 changed its name to Central Federal Administration or the Central Olympic Club, and on 17^th July, 1912 it became Serbian Olympic Committee, i.e. the Olympic Committee of Serbia, as stated on its stamp.

The Serbian Olympic Committee was affiliated to the IOC at the Congress held in Stockholm from 4^th to 17^th July, 1912 (the official act of affiliation presumably took place on 17^th July).

After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, the Yugoslav Olympic Council was founded in Zagreb on 14^th December, 1919, but the membership of the Olympic Committee of Serbia in the IOC has continued to last as a logical successor.

Members of the NOC Serbia Mision in Stockholm

Major Svetomir Djukic represented the Olympic Committee of Serbia at the Congress of the IOC held in Antwerp on 18^thAugust, 1920, and on that occasion the IOC recognized him as “a delegate” of the Yugoslav Olympic Council.  Thus, the Olympic Committee of Serbia continued to work as the Yugoslav Olympic Council and, since 1927, as the Yugoslav Olympic Committee. In that year, the headquarters of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee was relocated to Belgrade.

After World War II, the Olympic activities were being revived all over the world. Shortly before the Olympic Games held in London in 1948, the Yugoslav Olympic Committee re-established its work as a part of the FISAJ (Physical exercise committee of Yugoslavia), and in 1951 it became independent and kept its name until 3^rd April, 2003 when, in accordance with the political changes, it changed its name to the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Montenegro.

After separation of Serbia and Montenegro as independent countries, the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Montenegro changed its name to the Olympic Committee of Serbia on 8^th June, 2006.

The NOC Serbia is a member of:

Thus, the NOC continued the tradition of the Serbian Olympic Club, the Yugoslav Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Montenegro. During its history it participated at all 21 Summer Olympic Games (since 1912) and at 16 Winter Olympic Games (we had no representatives at the Olympic Games held in Lake Placid in 1932 and the ones held in Squaw Valley in 1960 due to high costs of participation, and for the Games in Lillehammer held in 1994, there were no Yugoslav delegation due to the economic sanctions imposed to our country by the UN).

So far, 1,258 athletes participated at Summer Olympic Games (1,754 participations), and 134 of them are gold medal winners, 172 won silver medal, and 102 bronze medal winners.

A total of 98 medals were won so far: 28 gold medals, 35 silver medals and 35 bronze medals. .

At the Winter Olympic Games more than 300 sportsmen of the Yugoslav Olympic Team took part and they won 4 medals: 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.

During its history, the Olympic Committee of Serbia i.e. the Serbian Olympic Club, the Yugoslav Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committee of Serbia and Montenegro, had six members in the IOC, has had 20 presidents and 6 general secretaries, while 17 athletes and sports officials were awarded the highest recognition by the IOC -“the Olympic badge of honor”.

The Yugoslav Olympic Committee hosted several major sport competitions: XIV Winter Olympic Games were held in Sarajevo in 1984, VIII Mediterranean Games were held in Split in 1979 and the International University Sports Games were held in Zagreb in 1987.

The Yugoslav Olympic Committee has three times expressed the desire to host Summer Olympics.

Belgrade and the Yugoslav Olympic Committee first announced the candidacy for organizing the Games to be held in 1948. That was in 1936 when the candidacy was signed by our IOC members Major Svetomir Djukic and Dr Franjo Bucar, but because of the World War II, the candidacy was tacitly withdrawn.

Our capital city was two times an official candidate for hosting the Games. The first  candidacy was ended  in the third round of voting  in 1986 when the host of XXV Games to be held in 1992 was decided. In the first round of voting Belgrade won 13 votes, in the second round 11 votes and 5 votes in the last round when it was eliminated.  Barselona won the nomination.

At that time, an idea of a permanent candidacy of Belgrade was adopted and our capital  announced the candidacy for organizing ”the Golden Games” in 1996, on the 100th anniversary of modern Olympic Games. The opponents were Athens, Atlanta, Toronto, Melbourne and Manchester; Belgrade’s candidacy was rejected in the first round as it won only seven of 86 votes of the IOC members. It was decided that the Olympics would be held in Athens, and the idea of permanent Belgrade’s candidacy was abandoned, because of the sanctions imposed to our country by the UN Security Council.

The NOC organized the torch relay of the Olympic flame through Yugoslavia three times – for the Games held in Berlin in 1936, for the Games held in Munich in 1972, and, certainly, for the Winter Games held in Sarajevo in 1984.