Peru at the Olympics

Peru at the Olympic Games

Flag of Peru
IOC code  PER
NOC Comité Olímpico Peruano
Websitewww.coperu.org (Spanish)
Olympic history
Summer Games
Winter Games

Peru has officially participated in 17 Summer Olympic Games and 2 Winter Olympic Games. They did not send any athletes to the 1952 Summer Olympics. The Comité Olímpico Peruano is the National Olympic Committee for Peru which was founded in 1924 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1936.

Peru's first official appearance at the Olympic Games was at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. However, prior to the creation of the Comité Olímpico Peruano in 1924, the Peruvian Carlos de Candamo competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics in two fencing events of foil and épée. Peru's first participation in the Winter Olympic Games occurred during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Peru has won a total of four medals, three in shooting events and one in volleyball. Their first and only gold medal to date was won by Edwin Vásquez in the 1948 Summer Olympics in the Men's 50 metre pistol. The remaining three medals were silver. The first silver medal was won by Francisco Boza in Trap at the 1984 Summer Olympics. The Peru women's national volleyball team won Peru's second silver medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics, and Juan Giha won their third silver and latest medal in skeet at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Medalists

Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Gold Edwin Vásquez United Kingdom 1948 London Shooting Men's 50 metre pistol
 Silver Francisco Boza United States 1984 Los Angeles Shooting Trap
 Silver South Korea 1988 Seoul Volleyball Women's competition
 Silver Juan Giha Spain 1992 Barcelona Shooting Skeet

Association Football

Olympic Games Record
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
1900–1928Did Not Qualify-------
Germany 1936Quarter-finals5/162200115
1948–1956Did Not Qualify-------
Italy 1960Round 111/16310269
1964–2012Did Not Qualify-------
Total2/2453021714

Olympic Games History
YearRoundScoreResult
1936 Round of 16 Peru 7 3  FinlandWin
Quarter Finals Peru 4 2  AustriaWin(*)
1960 Round 1 Peru 1 2  FranceLoss
Round 1 Peru 2 6  HungaryLoss
Round 1 Peru 3 1  IndiaWin

1936 Summer Olympics

Peru was invited to join the Olympics for its first time in 1936,[1] when they were to be held at Berlin. Among the line of players featured in this first participation of the Blanquirroja were Alejandro Villanueva, Teodoro Fernández, Juan Valdivieso, and Adelfo Magallanes.[2] The Peruvian players, after arriving to Germany by transport of an Italian ship, were awestruck by the modern stadiums and the German idolatry of Adolf Hitler.[1] The first match against Finland was played on August 6, 1936, and was won with great ease by the Peruvians with a 7-3 result.[2] Peru's next match was against Austria in the quarterfinals. The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the Peruvians tied the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru scored 5 goals during overtime, of which 3 were nulled by the referee, and won by the final score of 4-2.[1]

The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that Peruvian fans had stormed the field, and because the field did not meet the requirements for a football game.[1][2] Austria further claimed that the Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrian players and that spectators, one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field."[3] Peru was notified of this situation, and they attempted to go to the assigned meeting but were delayed by a German parade.[1] At the end, the Peruvian defense was never heard, and the Olympic Committee and FIFA sided with the Austrians. The rematch was scheduled to be taken under close grounds on August 10, and later re-scheduled to be taken on August 11.[2][3]

As a sign of protest against these actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the complete Olympic delegations of Peru and Colombia left Germany.[4][5] Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru.[3] Michael Dasso, a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We've no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants."[6] The game was awarded to Austria by default.[3] In Peru, angry crowds protested against the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag, throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the docks of Callao, and listening to inflammatory speeches which included President Oscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision."[3] To this day, it is not known with certainty what exactly happened at Germany, but it is popularly believed that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi authorities might have had some involvement in this situation.[5]

1960 Summer Olympics

After 24 years, Peru once again qualified for the football tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome with their U-23 football team. The team started out with a surprise as Angel Uribe scored a 1st minute goal against France.[7] Peru would go on to lose 2-1 against the French, and were later beaten by Hungary in a result of 6-2, with only Alberto Ramírez scoring goals for the Blanquirroja.[8] The last match was played against India, and Peru won it with a 3-1 score with goals of Nicolas Nieri and Thomas Iwasaki.[9]

Peru has not qualified again to the tournament since 1960, but were close to qualifying again in the 1964 and 1980 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament.

Olympic table (Summer)

Games Athletes Athletes by sport Medals
Germany Berlin 1936 63 9 4 13 2 22 4 - 4 - 1 1 - - - - 000
United Kingdom London 1948 42 9 - 10 9 - 5 - 3 - - - 3 3 - - 100
Finland Helsinki 1952 did not compete
Australia Melbourne 1956 8 - - - 8 - - - - - - - - - - - 000
Italy Rome 1960 31 - - - 10 19 - - - - - - - - 2 - 000
Japan Tokyo 1964 31 3 6 12 9 - 1 - - - - - - - - - 000
Mexico Mexico City 1968 28 4 3 - 5 - - 9 2 - - - 1 1 3 - 000
Germany Munich 1972 20 3 3 - 2 - 5 - 2 - - - - 1 - 4 000
Canada Montreal 1976 12 - - - - - - 12 - - - - - - - - 000
Russia Moscow 1980 18 5 1 - - - - 12 - - - - - - - - 000
United States Los Angeles 1984 20 2 4 - 1 - 1 12 - - - - - - - - 010
South Korea Seoul 1988 15 1 2 - - - - 12 - - - - - - - - 010
Spain Barcelona 1992 6 2 2 - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - 010
United States Atlanta 1996 24 5 2 - 3 - - 12 1 1 - - - - - - 000
Australia Sydney 2000 19 2 3 - 2 - - 12 - - - - - - - - 000
Greece Athens 2004 7 2 2 - 2 - - - - 1 - - - - - - 000
China Bejiing 2008 6 2 2 1 - - - - - 1 - - - - - - 000
United Kingdom London 2012 16 5 3 - 1 - - - - 2 - - 1 - 1 - 000

Olympic medal table (Winter)

Games Athletes by sport Medals
Canada 2010 Vancouver 2 1 000
Russia 2014 Sochi 2 1 000

See also

References