Before independence during the French Algeria period, the Algerian athletes were participating with France, among the most famous, the gold medalists Boughera El Ouafi in 1928, Alain Mimoun in 1956 and many others.

Algeria withdrew from the 1976 Summer Olympics due to the refusal of the IOC to ban countries who had competed in South Africa amidst its apartheid policies.

In the 1980 Summer Olympics Algeria participated for the first time in a team sport, competing in both football and handball.

Their first medal came at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where Mustapha Moussa won bronze in boxing.

Only two Algerian athletes have won multiple medals in the history of the Olympic Games: middle-distance runner Taoufik Makhloufi, and boxer Hocine Soltani.