The Tunisian Olympic Committee (French: Comité National Olympique Tunisien, CNOT) fielded a team of 61 athletes, 40 men and 21 women, to compete in 17 sports at the Games.

Among the sports represented by the nation's athletes, Tunisia made its Olympic debut in beach volleyball, as well as returning to table tennis after a twelve-year absence.

At 32 years old and headed to his fifth Games, Mellouli emerged himself as Tunisia's most successful Olympian of all time, with three medals (two golds and one bronze), and the first swimmer to dominate at both the pool and open water in Olympic history.

Apart from Mellouli and Ghribi, 18 Tunisian athletes previously competed in London, including fencing sisters Azza and Sarra Besbes, tennis players Malek Jaziri and Ons Jabeur, three-time Olympic judoka Nihal Chikhrouhou (women's +78 kg) and Houda Miled (women's 70 kg), race walker Hassanine Sebei, and freestyle wrestler Marwa Amri.

Tunisia returned home from Rio de Janeiro with three bronze medals; each of them was awarded to the Tunisian athletes in fencing, taekwondo, and wrestling, respectively, for the first time.

[10] Ferjani's brother Farès rounded out the Tunisian roster by virtue of a top finish in the men's sabre at the African Zonal Qualifier in Algiers, Algeria.

Saifa Saidani had claimed the Olympic spot in the women's singles by virtue of her top two finish at the 2016 African Qualification Tournament in Khartoum, Sudan.

188) had claimed one of six ITF Olympic women's singles places, as Africa's top-ranked player outside of direct qualifying position in the WTA World Rankings.