The Russian Olympic Committee sent a total of 446 athletes to the Games, 244 men and 202 women, to compete in all sports, except baseball, field hockey, football, and softball.

[2] The Russian delegation proved particularly successful in several sports, winning a total of nineteen medals in athletics, ten each in shooting and wrestling, seven in gymnastics and weightlifting, six in boxing, and five in cycling and judo.

Among Russia's team-based athletes, the indoor volleyball teams, along with men's handball and water polo and women's basketball, claimed Olympic medals in their respective tournaments.

Among the nation's medalists were synchronized swimming pair Anastasia Davydova and Anastasiya Yermakova, who both won gold in the women's duet and team routines,[3] pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who later emerged as Russia's most promising track star in the decade,[4] and Greco-Roman wrestler Khasan Baroev, who sought revenge for Russia on Aleksandr Karelin's defeat from Sydney to take home the super heavyweight title.

[7][8] On 23 August 2004, shot putter Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of her gold medal and received a lifetime ban by the International Olympic Committee after she tested positive for the steroid stanozolol.

[9] On 5 December 2012, Korzhanenko's teammate Svetlana Krivelyova was ordered to hand back her bronze, as the drug re-testings of her samples were positive.

[16] Head coach: Alexander Kleymenov Nine Russian weightlifters qualified for the following events: * Oleg Perepetchenov originally claimed the bronze medal but was disqualified after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

On 23 August 2004, the International Olympic Committee ordered a lifetime ban for shot putter Irina Korzhanenko and stripped her of her gold medal after she tested positive for the steroid stanozolol.