13 teams have won Paralympic medals but not Olympic medals; 31 teams have done the opposite

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A majority of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) send athletes to both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but some teams are more successful in one or the other.

While the modern Olympic Games began in 1896, the Paralympics didn’t begin until 1960. The International Paralympic Committee called the 1960 games a “tremendous step forward in sport for athletes with physical disabilities.”

In 1960, about 400 athletes from 23 countries participated in 57 events across eight sports at the Paralympics. That compares to more than 4,400 athletes from 170 nations competing in 549 events across 22 sports at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

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Since 1960, a total of 13 national teams have won a Summer Paralympic medal but have never won a Summer Olympic medal.

The most noticeable disparity is the Faroe Islands, which has won 13 Paralympic medals, all in swimming. The team does not compete in the Olympic Games; athletes from the islands instead compete for Denmark.

Malta has won nine Summer Paralympic medals without a single Summer Olympic medal. Angola has won eight Paralympic medals, while Myanmar has won seven.

It’s more common that a team has won a Summer Olympic medal but not a Summer Paralympic medal. That’s the case for 31 NOCs in total.

Three teams won their first-ever Summer Paralympic medals in 2024: Mauritius, Nepal and the Refugee Paralympic Team. Meanwhile, five teams won their first-ever Summer Olympic medals earlier in the year: Albania, Cabo Verde, Dominica, the Refugee Olympic Team and Saint Lucia.

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