The Croatian team featured three Olympic medalists from Sydney: rowers and brothers Nikša and Siniša Skelin, and four-time Olympian and defending weightlifting champion Nikolaj Pešalov in the men's lightweight class.

Table tennis player and Olympic silver medalist Zoran Primorac became the first Croatian to participate in five Olympic Games as an individual athlete (his first appearance competed under the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

Three-time Olympic water polo player and two-time medalist Dubravko Šimenc was appointed by the committee to become the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, Croatia men's handball team (led by team captain Venio Losert) proved particularly successful in Athens, as they beat the Germans for their only gold medal at these Games, adding it to their previous record from the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

M = Medal race; OCS = On course side of the starting line; DSQ = Disqualified; DNF = Did not finish; DNS= Did not start; RDG = Redress given Croatian swimmers earned qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the A-standard time, and 1 at the B-standard time): Three Croatian table tennis players qualified for the following events.