The delegation consisted of five athletes: sprinters Masoud Azizi and Robina Muqimyar, boxer Basharmal Sultani, judoka Friba Rezayee and wrestler Bashir Ahmad Rahmati.

Muqimayar and Rezayee's inclusion in the Afghan delegation marked the first time the country sent a woman athlete to a Summer Olympics.

All five failed to progress any further than the preliminary round of their respective sports and Afghanistan's best performance at the Games was by Muqimayar who set a new national women's 100 metre record in her heat.

[2] These efforts led to the IOC re-instating the country in its 115th meeting in the Czech capital of Prague on 29 June 2003 and told them a prerequisite for future Olympic participation was the inclusion of women in their delegation.

[1] The nation sent five athletes to the Olympics: sprinters Masoud Azizi and Robina Muqimyar, boxer Basharmal Sultani, judoka Friba Rezayee and wrestler Bashir Ahmad Rahmati.

[6][9] The team was on a limited budget due to a shortage of capital from the Afghan authorities and the general consensus in the media was they would not medal at the Games.

[7][13][16] Judoka Stig Traavik scouted Muqimyar who began training on a deteriorating track at Ghazi Stadium twice a week, sometimes barefooted but always away from men for fear of harassment and assault.

[9] Sultani was drawn to face Mohamed Hikal of Egypt in the Round of 32 on 15 August at the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall.

[22] Although he was defeated, Sultani was applauded by the small crowd of spectators and said of his participation in the Olympic Games to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "This was a great moment in my life, and it will be the same for other athletes when they compete.

[24] She used a wild card from the IOC to qualify for the Games despite the International Judo Federation hesitant in allowing low-ranked fighters participating in the quadrennial event.

[16] Razayee said she wanted to use the Olympics as a means of changing the perception of sport in Afghanistan,[16] "My fighting is not as important to me as is my participating.