Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

competed as an independent nation for the first time at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Montenegro was the youngest nation to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Athletes from Montenegro participated in three different events. In individual events, the new nation had representatives in

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

. Boxer

Milorad Gajović Milorad Gajović (born July 27, 1974) is a Montenegro, Montenegrin amateur boxing, boxer who qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics as a Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Heavyweight, heavyweight. He has also had some success as an amateur ...

represented his country in the

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division, while Nikola Šaranović competed in 10 m air pistol and 50 m pistol precision shooting events. In team competition, Montenegro competed in

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

. The

Montenegro national water polo team The Montenegro men's national water polo team represents Montenegro in international men's water polo competitions, and is controlled by the Water Polo and Swimming Federation of Montenegro. Prior history Between 1918 and 1991, Montenegro was par ...

won the 2007 European Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament to qualify for the Olympic games. Montenegro failed to win any medals, but did advance to the bronze medal match in men's water polo, where they lost to Serbia, 6-4.

History

Montenegro created its

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

in 2006, and gained

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

recognition in 2007 during the IOC's meetings in

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

. Previously, Montenegrin athletes competed as part of the

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

team in 2004, and as part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

teams before that. Montenegro was also part of the Yugoslavian team in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

that participated as the

Independent Olympic Participants Athletes have competed as independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from ...

. Following Montenegro's referendum to become a free nation,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

was declared the successor state and inherited the joint nation's National Olympic Committee. The admittance of Montenegro, along with

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

and the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

, brought the total number of nations that competed in the 2008 Olympics to 204.

Athletics

;Men ;Women

Boxing

qualified in the heavyweight class at the second European continental qualifying tournament.2nd AIBA European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament

Judo

Shooting

Nikola Šaranović participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, at the age of 39. He ranked 40 in the Men's Air pistol 10 metres event. Šaranović also competed in the Men's Free Pistol 50 metres event, and ranked 44 overall. He did not earn any medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics, but went on to participate in both events again in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. ;Men

Swimming

Marina Kuč represented Montenegro in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. She ranked 31st in the preliminaries for the Women's 200m Breaststroke event with a finishing time of 2:31.24. ;Women

Water polo

Men's tournament

The

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

qualified as one of the twelve teams in the men's tournament by winning the European qualifying tournament in September 2007. The team finished in fourth place. ;Roster ;Group play All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing Tim ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

). ;Quarterfinal ;Semifinal ;Bronze medal game

References

{{Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...