Spain first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since 1920. Spain has also participated in every Winter Olympic Games since 1936. Its team is organised by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE, Comité Olímpico Español) created in 1924.
Spain withdrew from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany because of the Civil War, and also boycotted the 1956 Games in Melbourne because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary.