Portugal competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea.
A dodadinal delegation of sixty four competitors participated in a new record number of fourteen sports. Portugal's only medal was its second Olympic gold ever, won by the Los Angeles 1984 women's marathon bronze medalist Rosa Mota who added the Olympic title to her European and World marathon titles. The future Olympic champion Fernanda Ribeiro debuted in the Olympics but didn't finish her participation.
The athletics hosted most of the Portuguese competitors' events, confirming this nation's great athletic potential at the Olympic level. Swimming events also registered a bigger amount than the usual. In its second Olympic archery competition, Portugal sent two men as well as its first female Olympic archer who established a new high ranking for a Portuguese archer at 37th.
Men's Individual Competition:
Carlos Reis
Open round — 1176 pts (→ 66th, did not advance)
Rui Santos
Open round — 1160 pts (→ 70th, did not advance)
Women's Individual Competition:
Ana Sousa
Open round — 1213 pts (→ 37th, did not advance)
100m:
Luís Cunha
Round 1 (heat 11) — 10.80 (→ 5th, did not advance)
Pedro Agostinho
Round 1 (heat 6) — did not finish
200m:
Luís Barroso
Round 1 (heat 9) — 21.31 (→ 2nd)
Round 2 (heat 3) — 20.81 (→ 4th, did not advance)
Luís Cunha
Round 1 (heat 7) — 21.72 (→ 4th, did not advance)
400m:
Filipe Lomba
Round 1 (heat 2) — 47.57 (→ 5th, did not advance)
800m:
Álvaro Silva
Round 1 (heat 4) — 1:49.09 (→ 3rd)
Round 2 (heat 4) — 1:46.65 (→ 3rd)
Semi-final (heat 2) — 1:45.12 (→ 5th, did not advance)
António Abrantes
Round 1 (heat 3) — 1:49.01 (→ 4th, did not advance)
1,500m:
Mário Silva
Round 1 (heat 2) — 3:42.24 (→ 5th)
Final — 3:38.77 (→ 9th)
5,000m:
Domingos Castro
Round 1 (heat 1) — 13:47.91 (→ 4th)
Semi-final — 13:22.44 (→ 1st)
Final — 13:16.09 (→ 4th)
Fernando Couto
Round 1 (heat 2) — 13:58.72 (→ 8th, did not advance)
José Regalo
Round 1 (heat 3) — 13:43.59 (→ 9th)
Semi-final — 13:24.48 (→ 3rd)
Final — did not finish
10,000m:
António Pinto
Round 1 (heat 1) — 28:15.63 (→ 6th)
Final — 28:09.53 (→ 13th)
Dionísio Castro
Round 1 (heat 1) — did not finish
Ezequiel Canario
Round 1 (heat 2) — 28:43.02 (→ 9th, did not advance)
Marathon
Joaquim Silva — 2:18:05 (→ 27th)
20 km Walk:
Hélder Oliveira — 1:27:39 (→ 39th)
José Pinto — 1:26:33 (→ 31st)
José Urbano — 1:24:56 (→ 29th)
50 km Walk:
José Pinto — 3:55:57 (→ 21st)
110m Hurdles:
João Lima
Round 1 (heat 5) — 14.73 (→ 6th, did not advance)
4 × 100 m Relay:
Arnaldo Abrantes, Luís Barroso, Pedro Agostinho and Pedro Curvelo
Round 1 (heat 4) — 39.61 (→ 3rd)
Semi-final (heat 2) — disqualified
4 × 400 m Relay:
Álvaro Silva, António Abrantes, Filipe Lomba and Paulo Curvelo
Round 1 (heat 2) — 3:07.75 (→ 3rd)
Semi-final (heat 1) — 3:07.75 (→ 7th, did not advance)
Long Jump:
José Leitão
Qualifying Round (group 1) — 6,99 (→ 15th, did not advance)
Triple Jump:
José Leitão
Qualifying Round (group 1) — 15,60 (→ 16th, did not advance)
3000m:
Fernanda Ribeiro
Round 1 (heat 1) — 9:05.92 (→ 13th, did not advance)
10000m:
Albertina Dias
Round 1 (heat 2) — 32:13.85 (→ 5th)
Final — 32:07.13 (→ 10th)
Albertina Machado
Round 1 (heat 1) — 31:52.04 (→ 7th)
Final — 32:02.13 (→ 9th)
Marathon:
Aurora Cunha — did not start
Conceição Ferreira — 2:34:23 (→ 20th)
Rosa Mota — 2:25:40 (→ Gold Medal)
Men
Men's Individual Jumping:
Manuel Malta da Costa — 33rd
Men's épée
José Bandeira — 67th
Round 1 (pool 15) — 5 matches, 1 victory (→ 5th, did not advance)
- Cezary Siess (POL) (→ lost by 5:3)
- Rafael Di Tella (ARG) (→ lost by 5:5)
- Arwin Kardolus (NED) (→ lost by 5:3)
- Arnd Schmitt (FRG) (→ lost by 5:1)
- Alfredo Bogarin Arzamendia (PAR) (→ won by 5:3)
Óscar Pinto — 74th
Round 1 (pool 2) — 4 matches, 0 victories (→ 5th, did not advance)
- Andre Kuhn (SUI) (→ lost by 5:3)
- Roberto Lazzarini (BRA) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Stéphane Ganeff (NED) (→ lost by 5:1)
- Sandro Cuomo (ITA) (→ lost by 5:0)
Roberto Durão — 60th
Round 1 (pool 3) — 4 matches, 1 victory (→ 4th)
- Jean Michel Henry (FRA) (→ lost by 5:1)
- Robert Marx (USA) (→ won by 5:5)
- Il-Hee Lee (KOR) (→ lost by 5:3)
- Fernando Pena (ESP) (→ lost by 5:2)
Round 2 (pool 12) — 4 matches, 0 victories (→ 5th, did not advance)
- Stephen Trevor (USA) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Mauricio Rivas (COL) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Johannes Nagele (AUT) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Stefan Joos (BEL) (→ lost by 5:1)
Men's foil
José Bandeira — 55th
Round 1 (pool 12) — 5 matches, 1 victory (→ 5th, did not advance)
- Andrea Borella (ITA) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Shaopei Lao (CHN) (→ lost by 5:2)
- Chung Man Lee (HKG) (→ won by 5:2)
- Thierry Soumagne (BEL) (→ lost by 5:1)
- Stephen Angers (CAN) (→ lost by 5:1)
Men's Individual All-Round Competition:
Hélder Pinheiro — 109.600 pts (→ 85th)
Women's Individual All-Round Competition:
Sónia Moura — 83rd
Women's Individual All-Round Competition:
Patricia Jorge — 37.050 pts (→ 30th)
Men's Extra Lightweight (–60 kg):
Renato Santos
Pool B
1/32 finals — Bye
1/16 finals — Carlos Sotillo (ESP) (→ won by kiken-gachi)
1/8 finals — Zhang Guojun (CHN) (→ lost by yusei-gachi, did not advance)
Hugo Assunção
Pool A
1/32 finals — James Sibenge (ZIM) (→ won by ippon)
1/16 finals — Eugene McManus (IRL) (→ won by yusei-gachi)
1/8 finals — Anders Dahlin (SWE) (→ lost by koka, did not advance)
Men's Half Middleweight (–78 kg):
Pedro Cristóvão
Pool A
1/32 finals — Bye
1/16 finals — Neil Adams (GBR) (→ lost by ippon, did not advance)
Women's Half Middleweight (–61 kg):
Teresa Gaspar
Pool B
1/4 finals — Lynn Roethke (USA) (→ lost by yuko)
Repêchage — Boguslawa Olechnowicz (POL) (→ lost by ippon, did not advance)
One male pentathlete represented Portugal in 1988.
Men's Individual Competition:
Manuel Barroso — 4844 pts (→ 34th)
Men's Team Competition:
Manuel Barroso — 4844 pts (→ 22nd)
Star:
Henrique Anjos and Patricio de Barros — 115 pts (→ 15th)
Division II:
Luís Calico — 132 pts (→ 19th)
Men's 10m Air Pistol:
José Pena — did not start
Men's Trap:
Hélder Cavaco — 139 hits (→ 37th)
João Rebelo — 190 hits (→ 18th)
100m Breaststroke:
Alexandre Yokochi
Heats (heat 2) — 1:05.66 (→ 1st, did not advance – 40th overall)
200m Breaststroke:
Alexandre Yokochi
Heats (heat 6) — 2:17.87 (→ 5th)
Final B — 2:18.01 (→ 1st – 9th overall)
100m Butterfly:
Mabílio Albuquerque
Heats (heat 2) — 57.30 (→ 2nd, did not advance – 33rd overall)
Paulo Camacho
Heats (heat 3) — 57.62 (→ 4th, did not advance, 37th place)
200m Butterfly:
Diogo Madeira
Heats (heat 2) — 2:03.79 (→ 1st, did not advance – 26th overall)
João Santos
Heats (heat 2) — 2:04.74 (→ 2nd, did not advance – 29th overall)
50m Freestyle:
Paulo Trindade
Heats (heat 6) — 24.02 (→ 5th, did not advance – 31st overall)
Sérgio Esteves
Heats (heat 5) — 24.24 (→ 2nd, did not advance – 30th overall)
1500m Freestyle:
Artur Costa
Heats (heat 2) — 15:56.13 (→ 7th, did not advance – 30th overall)
200m Individual Medley:
Diogo Madeira
Heats (heat 4) — 2:10.21 (→ 2nd, did not advance – 28th overall)
400m Individual Medley:
Rui Borges
Heats (heat 2) — 4:30.79 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 22nd overall)
Diogo Madeira
Heats (heat 2) — 4:35.00 (→ 5th, did not advance – 26th overall)
4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay:
Mabílio Albuquerque, Henrique Villaret, Sérgio Esteves and Vasco Sousa
Heats (heat 1) — 3:33.31 (→ 5th, did not advance – 14th overall)
100m Butterfly:
Sandra Neves
Heats (heat 3) — 1:04.60 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 27th overall)
200m Butterfly:
Sandra Neves
Heats (heat 2) — 2:18.29 (→ 5th, did not advance – 18th overall)
Men's Lightweight (–67,5 kg):
Paulo Duarte
Group C — 275,0 kg (→ 14th)
Men's Greco-Roman Flyweight (–52 kg):
José Marques
Group B:
Round 1 — Pete Stjernberg (SWE) (→ lost by injury)
Round 2 — Jae-Suk Lee (KOR) (→ lost by injury; did not advance)
Celorico Moreira (chief of mission)
