The nation appeared 15 times as a single country (IOC code GER), before World War II and again after German reunification in 1990.

Three times, from 1956 to 1964, German athletes from the separate states in West and East competed as a United Team of Germany, which is currently listed by the IOC as EUA, not GER.

The all-time results of German athletes are thus divided among the designations GER, EUA, FRG, GDR and SAA (the Saarland, which only took part in the 1952 Summer Games and won no medals).

In contrast, the Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens had seen eight contests, with Germans scoring five gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

The anticipated 1916 Summer Olympics, which were to be officially known as the Games of the VI Olympiad, were to have been held in Germany's capital, Berlin.

[citation needed] After 16 years of absence, a new generation of German athletes returned in the 1928 Summer Olympics, scoring second overall.

In the games, the 348 German athletes not only outnumbered the 310 Americans, but outscored them for the first time in the medal count in which Germany ranked first.

The IOC currently does not attribute these results to Germany (GER), but lists them separately as the Equipe Unifiée Allemande (EUA).

Athletes from the Saar Protectorate (SAA) competed as a separate team, as the French-occupied region would not join the Federal Republic of Germany until 1955.

Many Western countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, boycotted the Moscow Games of 1980 due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the year before.

Prior to that, German athletes from West Germany and the French-occupied Saar Protectorate took part in the 1952 Summer Olympics organized in different teams designated as GER and SAA.

The travel of GDR athletes, such as to contests and training sites in the Alps, was limited due to fear of Republikflucht.

As a result of this development, in the 1968 Winter and Summer Olympics, German athletes competed as separate West and East teams, while still using the compromise flag and Beethoven anthem that year.

These totals do not include the one gold and one silver medal won by Germany in figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Germany competed in the inaugural Olympic rugby union contest in 1900, taking joint silver with Great Britain behind winners France.

Friedrich Traun lost to John Boland in the first round of the singles, but paired with him to win the gold in the doubles.