A Look at Luxembourg at the Olympics

The Paris Summer Olympics are taking place in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with the participation of two Luxembourg athletes confirmed to date.

More than 10,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOC) are expected to compete this summer, with qualifying still ongoing. The NOC for Luxembourg is the Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois (COSL). Founded in 1912, COSL sent its first team to the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden that same year.

Since then, two athletes have won medals for Luxembourg at the Summer Olympics: weightlifter Joseph Alzin won the silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium and Josy Barthel won the gold medal (Men's 1500 metres) at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Back in 1900, Michel Théato, a Luxembourg-born long-distance runner, won the gold medal in the Olympic marathon in Paris (where he lived), but for France.

Luxembourg also counts two silver medals, both won by Marc Girardelli, at the Winter Olympics (in 1992). The alpine ski racer was born in Austria but later acquired Luxembourgish citizenship.

Sprinter Patrizia van der Weken and shot put athlete Bob Bertemes are the first two Luxembourg athletes to have secured their spots at the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics. The former qualified after she finished a 100-metre race at an athletics meeting in Switzerland last July (2023) in just 11 seconds and 5 hundredths. The latter qualified for the Paris Olympics in February 2024 when he placed first at the World Athletics Indoor Meeting at d'Coque in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Ahead of this year's international sports competition, in April 2024, COSL held an exhibition dedicated to the history of Luxembourg at the Olympic Games at the Belle Etoile shopping centre.

One month earlier, Luxembourg's Minister of Sport and the President of COSL presented the "Maison du Luxembourg", a venue in Paris dedicated to Luxembourg's presence at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Located on the third floor of the Stade Jean Bouin, the Maison du Luxembourg open its doors to athletes, supporters, business partners, media and political representatives from 26 July to 11 August 2024, daily from 16:00 to 02:00. Further details at https://maisonduluxembourg.public.lu/en.html.