The Yugoslav Olympic Committee (country code YUG) was the governing body responsible for organizing delegations to Olympic Games during three distinct periods in the history of the country, from the 1920s until the 2000s: The organization was originally established in Zagreb in December 1919 as Jugoslavenski olimpijski odbor (JOO), intended to represent athletes from the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia (officially styled as "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" from 1918 to 1929).

In 1927 the organization was briefly moved to capital Belgrade, when it changed its name to Jugoslovenski olimpijski komitet (JOK), only to relocate back to Zagreb in 1931.

Following the May 1938 cancellation of the planned 1940 Games in Japan and the outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939 JOK's activities were put on hiatus.

In April 1941 Yugoslavia was invaded, and soon after that the newly installed authorities of the Nazi-allied NDH regime in Zagreb officially dissolved and banned the organization.

Yugoslavia's first medalist was the gymnast Leon Štukelj four years later in Paris, who won two golds, in men's all-round competition and in horizontal bars events.

The country's last flagbearer in this period was hammer thrower Milan Stepišnik, at the 1936 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Berlin.

The first post-war Olympians from Yugoslavia were therefore a delegation of 17 athletes at the St. Moritz Olympics (all of them Slovene), and a 90-strong team (79 men and 11 women) who competed in London in eight sports.

Yugoslavia also hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, with alpine skier Jure Franko becoming the only Yugoslav athlete in history to win a medal on home soil, a silver in the men's giant slalom race held at Bjelašnica.

The first post-war flag bearer was water polo player Božo Grkinić, and the first gold medalists of this era were men's rowers in the coxless four event at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, all members of VK Gusar from Split.

Slovenia's Mateja Svet was the last ever Winter Olympic medalist for SFR Yugoslavia, winning silver in women's slalom on 26 February 1988 in Nakiska, a resort west of Calgary, behind Switzerland's Vreni Schneider.

The country's last Summer Olympics medalists were the men's national water polo team who won gold on 1 October 1988 in Seoul, beating the United States 9–7 in the final of the tournament.

The very last flagbearer for Yugoslavia before the country began falling apart was the celebrated canoeist Matija Ljubek, at the 1988 opening ceremony in Seoul.