Latvia first participated at the Olympic Games in 1924. After the nation was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, Latvian athletes competed for the Soviet Union at the Olympics between 1948 and 1988. After the independence of Latvia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the nation returned to the Olympic Games in 1992 and has competed at every Games since then.
Latvian athletes have won a total of 21 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and 12 medals at the Winter Olympic Games. They have won a remarkably high proportion of silver medals, with 5 gold medals. These totals do not include medals won by Latvian athletes while competing for the Soviet Union.
The National Olympic Committee for Latvia was first created in 1922. The current NOC is the Latvian Olympic Committee, which was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1991.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Haralds Silovs became the first athlete in Olympic history to participate in both short track (1500m) and long track (5000m) speed skating, and the first to compete in two different disciplines on the same day.