France is one of the founding nations of the modern Olympic movement. The Games were revived by a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, and France competed at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, finishing fourth on the medal table. France is usually listed as one of five countries to have been represented at every Summer Olympic Games, along with Greece, Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia. Its claim for 1904 is a special case, explained below.

France sent no official team to St. Louis in 1904. One Frenchman, Albert Corey, ran the marathon and took silver. However, the medal is credited to the United States, because Corey also ran for an American club in the 4-mile team race. Corey is still considered France's only representative at the 1904 Games, and 1904 is the only Summer Olympics at which France did not officially win a medal.

France has finished in the top ten of the Summer medal table at most Games. The exceptions are 1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1976 and 1984, and its lowest point was 25th place in Rome in 1960, with no gold medals. France ranks fifth on the all-time Summer Olympic medal table.

Hosting

France has hosted the Olympic Games six times, more than any country except the United States. Paris has staged the Summer Games three times, a record it shares with London.

  • Paris 1900: Held as part of the World's Fair and spread over five months. France topped the medal table with more than 100 medals. Totals vary by source because of the mixed-nationality teams of the time.
  • Chamonix 1924: The first Winter Olympics.
  • Paris 1924: France finished third with 38 medals, 13 of them gold.
  • Grenoble 1968: France's best Winter Games placing, third overall. Jean-Claude Killy won all three alpine skiing events.
  • Albertville 1992: Winter Games in the Savoie region.
  • Paris 2024: France's most successful Summer Games by medal count (see below).

France will host a seventh Olympics when the French Alps stage the 2030 Winter Games.

Paris 2024

Exactly 100 years after Paris last hosted, France had its best Summer Olympics. A team of 573 athletes won 64 medals: 16 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze. That was France's biggest haul since 1900, and the team finished fifth on the medal table. Swimmer Léon Marchand was the star of the Games, winning four individual golds: the 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley. Judoka Teddy Riner won the heavyweight title and mixed team gold, taking his Olympic gold total to five. The men's rugby sevens team, led by Antoine Dupont, won France's first Olympic rugby sevens title, and the men's volleyball team retained its Olympic title.

Medal Totals

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
Summer Olympics 243 279 302 824
Winter Olympics 50 50 61 161
Combined 293 329 363 985

Totals are to the end of the 2026 Winter Games. At the Winter Olympics, France has competed since the first Games in Chamonix in 1924. Its biggest haul came at Milano Cortina in 2026, with 23 medals (8 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze) for sixth place. Its best placing is still third, at Grenoble in 1968. See France at the Winter Olympics for more.

Results at Each Summer Games

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
1896 Athens 5 4 2 11 4
1900 Paris 31 41 40 112 1
1904 St. Louis No official French team
1908 London 5 5 9 19 4
1912 Stockholm 7 4 3 14 5
1920 Antwerp 9 19 13 41 8
1924 Paris 13 15 10 38 3
1928 Amsterdam 6 10 5 21 7
1932 Los Angeles 10 5 4 19 3
1936 Berlin 7 6 6 19 5
1948 London 10 6 13 29 3
1952 Helsinki 6 6 6 18 7
1956 Melbourne 4 4 6 14 11
1960 Rome 0 2 3 5 25
1964 Tokyo 1 8 6 15 21
1968 Mexico City 7 3 5 15 6
1972 Munich 2 4 7 13 17
1976 Montreal 2 3 4 9 15
1980 Moscow 6 5 3 14 8
1984 Los Angeles 5 7 16 28 12
1988 Seoul 6 4 6 16 9
1992 Barcelona 8 5 16 29 9
1996 Atlanta 15 7 15 37 5
2000 Sydney 13 14 11 38 6
2004 Athens 11 9 13 33 7
2008 Beijing 7 16 20 43 10
2012 London 11 11 13 35 7
2016 Rio de Janeiro 10 18 14 42 7
2020 Tokyo 10 12 11 33 8
2024 Paris 16 26 22 64 5

Medal counts for the early Games, especially 1900, differ between sources because medals won by mixed-nationality and club teams are attributed in different ways.

Trivia

  • It is commonly believed that the first women to take part in the Olympic Games were French croquet players Marie Ohnier, Mme Brohy and Mme Filleaul Brohy on June 28 1900, but actually a female Swiss sailor Hélène de Pourtalès competed a month earlier than that.
  • At the 1912 Games, the 6m class sailing race was won by the French yacht "Mac Miche", which was crewed by the three Thubé brothers.
  • In 1996, France's Marie-José Pérec won both the 200m and 400m, a double previously achieved only by Valerie Brisco-Hooks of the USA. Pérec had also won the 400m in 1992, making her the first athlete to win the event at consecutive Games.
  • Judoka Teddy Riner has won five Olympic gold medals: individual heavyweight titles in 2012, 2016 and 2024, and team golds in 2020 and 2024.
  • France's 16 gold medals at Paris 2024 were its most at a single Games since 1900.