Portugal competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States.
A delegation with a record number of 107 competitors (83 men and 24 women) participated in 79 events in 18 sports. Two medals were won this time, one of them being Portugal's third Olympic gold, thanks to Fernanda Ribeiro's surprising victory in the women's 10000m over the 5000m Olympic champion Wang Junxia. This third Olympic title in the athletics reinforced Portugal's strength in this sport and in particular the long-distance endurance events. A bronze was achieved by the 470 class male team, reviving a successful sailing tradition in this nation's Olympic delegations.
In Atlanta, Portugal debuted in cycling, women's sailing classes, slalom canoeing and in newly promoted beach volleyball, almost grabbing a bronze medal in the latter, on its first participation. In their second appearance, the tennis male team succumbed yet again on the first round to a Bahamian team. After 68 years, Portugal sent a football team to the Olympics and, in the end, it repeated Amsterdam's fourth place.
Fernanda Ribeiro — Athletics, Women's 10000m.
Hugo Rocha and Nuno Barreto — Sailing, Men's 470.
Men's Individual Competition:
Nuno Pombo
Ranking round — 650 pts (→ 35th)
Elimination rounds — 148 pts (→ 58th)
1/32 finals — Pawel Szymczak (POL) (→ lost by 152-148, did not advance)
100m:
Luís Cunha
Round 1 (heat 1) — 10.65 (→ 6th, did not advance)
800m:
António Abrantes
Round 1 (heat 5) — 1:47.73 (→ 5th, did not advance)
1500m:
António Travassos
Round 1 (heat 3) — 3:42.01 (→ 10th, did not advance)
Luís Feiteira
Round 1 (heat 4) — 3:38.09 (→ 5th, advanced as 4th fastest loser)
Semi-final 1 — 3:40.31 (→ 11th, did not advance)
Luís Jesus
Round 1 (heat 2) — 3:44.65 (→ 7th, did not advance)
5000m:
José Ramos
Round 1 (heat 1) — 14:17.26 (→ 8th)
Semi-final 1 — 14:24.81 (→ 15th, did not advance)
Luís Jesus
Round 1 (heat 3) — 14:08.87 (→ 11th, advanced as 9th fastest loser)
Semi-final 2 — did not start
10000m:
Alfredo Braz
Round 1 (heat 2) — 28:50.58 (→ 14th, did not advance)
Carlos Patrício
Round 1 (heat 1) — 29:15.41 (→ 15th, did not advance)
Paulo Guerra
Round 1 (heat 2) — did not finish
Marathon:
António Pinto — 2:16:41 (→ 14th)
Domingos Castro — 2:18:03 (→ 25th)
Manuel Matias — 2:20:58 (→ 46th)
20 km Walk:
José Urbano — 1:25:32 (→ 31st)
50 km Walk:
José Magalhães — 4:27:37 (→ 36th)
400m Hurdles:
Carlos Silva
Round 1 (heat 2) — 49.09s (→ 3rd, did not advance)
3000m Steeplechase:
Eduardo Henriques
Round 1 (heat 1) — 8:35.58 (→ 8th, did not advance)
Vitor Almeida
Round 1 (heat 2) — 8:48.16 (→ 11th, did not advance)
Long Jump:
Carlos Calado
Qualifying round (Group A) — 7,81 (→ 12th, did not advance)
Pole Vault:
Nuno Fernandes
Qualifying round (Group A) — 5,60 (→ 10th, did not advance)
Triple Jump:
Carlos Calado
Qualifying round (Group A) — 16,65 (→ 10th, did not advance)
100m:
Lucrécia Jardim
Round 1 (heat 6) — 11.32 (→ 3rd)
Round 2 (heat 2) — 11.37 (→ 4th)
Semi-final 2 — 11.32 (→ 8th, did not advance)
200m:
Lucrécia Jardim
Round 1 (heat 2) — 22.95 (→ 3rd)
Round 2 (heat 3) — 22.98 (→ 5th, did not advance)
800m:
Eduarda Coelho
Round 1 (heat 2) — 2:03.22 (→ 5th, did not advance)
1500m:
Carla Sacramento
Round 1 (heat 2) — 4:13.57 (→ 3rd)
Semi-final 2 — 4:06.70 (→ 5th)
Final — 4:03.91 (→ 6th)
5000m:
Ana Dias
Round 1 (heat 2) — 15:57.35 (→ 11th, did not advance)
10000m:
Conceição Ferreira
Round 1 (heat 1) — 33:40.76 (→ 14th, did not advance)
Fernanda Ribeiro
Round 1 (heat 2) — 31:36.32 (→ 3rd)
Final — 31:01.63 OR (→ Gold Medal)
Marathon:
Manuela Machado — 2:31:11 (→ 7th)
Albertina Dias — 2:26:39 (→ 27th)
Albertina Machado — 2:43:44 → (47th)
10 km Walk:
Susana Feitor — 44:24 (→ 13th)
Discus Throw:
Teresa Machado
Qualifying round (Group A) — 62,02 (→ 5th)
Final — 61,38 (→ 10th)
Shot Put:
Teresa Machado
Qualifying round (Group A) — 15,91 (→ 12th, did not advance)
Men's Competition:
João Brenha and Miguel Maia — 4th
Round 1 — Michel Everaert and Sander Mulder (NED) (→ won by 15-8)
Round 2 — Carl Henkel and Sinjin Smith (USA) (→ lost by 15-7)
17th place round — Javier Yuste Muniz and Miguel Angel Martin Prieto (ESP) (→ won by 15-8)
13th place round — Eduardo Esteban Martinez and Martin Alejo Conde (ARG) (→ won by 15-5)
9th place round — Emanuel Rego and José Marco de Melo Ferreira (BRA) (→ won by 15-12)
7th place round — Björn Maaseide and Jan Kvalheim (NOR) (→ won by 15-3)
5th place round — Carl Henkel and Sinjin Smith (USA) (→ won by 15-13)
Semi-finals — Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh (USA) (→ lost by 15-13)
Bronze medal match — John Child and Mark Heese (CAN) (→ lost by 12-5, 12-8)
Men
Men's Road Race:
Cândido Barbosa — 5:01:29 (→ 112th)
José Azevedo — did not finish
Nuno Marta — 4:56:49 (→ 78th)
Orlando Rodrigues — 4:56:45 (→ 39th)
Pedro Lopes — 4:56:45 (→ 48th)
Women's Road Race:
Ana Barros — 2:37:06 (→ 23rd)
Individual Jumping:
António Vozone
Qualifying round — 13.75 penalty pts (→ 69th)
Miguel Leal
Qualifying round — 12.00 penalty pts (→ 59th)
One male fencer represented Portugal in 1996.
Men's épée
Nuno Frazão
Round A — Vitally Zakharov (BLR) (→ lost by 15-11, did not advance)
Men's Competition:
Afonso Martins, Litos, Dani, Kenedy, Emílio Peixe, Hugo Porfírio, José Dominguez, Calado, José Vidigal, Andrade, Nuno Afonso, Nuno Gomes, Nuno Espírito Santo, Paulo Alves, Costinha, Beto, Rui Bento and Rui Jorge — 4th
Group stage (A) — 5 pts (→ 2nd, 1 scored goal less than Argentina)
July 20 | Washington D.C. — Tunisia (→ won by 2-0; goals by: Afonso Agra)
July 22 | Washington D.C. — Argentina (→ draw 1-1; goals by: Nuno Ribeiro)
July 24 | Washington D.C. — United States (→ draw 1-1; goals by: Paulo Alves)
Quarter-finals
July 27 | Miami, Florida — France (→ won by 2-1; goals by: Nuno Rocha, José Silva)
Semi-finals
July 30 | Athens, Georgia — Argentina (→ lost by 2-0)
Bronze medal match
August 2 | Athens, Georgia — Brazil (→ lost by 5-0)
Women's Individual All-Round Competition:
Diana Teixeira — 72.609 pts (→ 66th)
Men's Extra Lightweight (–60 kg):
Pedro Caravana
Pool A
Round 1 — Ewan Beaton (CAN) (→ won by waza-ari)
Round 2 — Nigel Donohue (GBR) (→ lost by ippon)
Men's Half Lightweight (–65 kg):
Michel Almeida
Pool A
Round 1 — Jose Perez (PUR) (→ won by ippon)
Round 2 — Francesco Giorgi (ITA) (→ won by koka)
Round 3 — Taro Tan (CAN) (→ won by yuko)
1/4 finals — Udo Quellmalz (GER) (→ lost by ippon)
Repêchage A
Round 1 — Bye
Round 2 — Bye
Round 3 — Israel Hernández Plana (CUB) (→ lost by ippon, did not advance)
Men's Lightweight (–71 kg):
Guilherme Bentes
Pool A
Round 1 — Bye
Round 2 — Loris Mularoni (SMR) (→ won by ippon)
Round 3 — Vladimeri Dgebuadze (GEO) (→ lost by yusei-gachi, did not advance)
Men's Half Heavyweight (–95 kg):
Pedro Soares
Pool A
Round 1 — Bye
Round 2 — Detlef Knorrek (GER) (→ won by ippon)
Round 3 — A. Sanchez Armentero (CUB) (→ won by ippon)
1/4 finals — Pawel Nastula (POL) (→ lost by ippon)
Repêchage A
Round 1 — Bye
Round 2 — Bye
Round 3 — Antal Kovács (HUN) (→ lost by shido, did not advance)
Women's Lightweight (–56 kg):
Filipa Cavalleri
Pool B
Round 1 — Bye
Round 2 — Ai-Chun Huang (TPE) (→ lost by yusei-gachi)
Men's Individual Competition:
Manuel Barroso — 5246 pts (→ 19th)
Men's Lightweight Coxless Four:
Henrique Baixinho, João Fernandes, Manuel Fernandes (stern) and Samuel Aguiar (bow)
Round 1 (heat 2) — 7:37.13 (→ 6th)
Repêchage 3 — 6:15.82 (→ 5th)
Final C — 6:27.07 (→ 3rd, 15th overall)
Finn:
Vasco Batista — 129 pts (→ 22nd)
Mistral:
João Rodrigues — 42 pts (→ 7th)
470:
Hugo Rocha (skipper) and Nuno Barreto — 62 pts (→ Bronze Medal)
Europe:
Joana Pratas — 209 pts (→ 25th)
Mistral:
Catarina Fagundes — 133 pts (→ 21st)
Laser:
Vasco Serpa — 74 pts (→ 7th)
Star:
Diogo Cayolla and Raul Costa — 129 pts(→ 21st)
Men's Trap:
João Rebelo
Preliminary round — 120 hits (→ 13th, did not advance)
Manuel Vieira
Preliminary round — 122 hits (→ 5th, did not advance)
Women's 10m Air Rifle:
Carla Ribeiro
Preliminary round — 375hits (→ 48th, did not advance)
Sara Antunes
Preliminary round — 377 hits (→ 47th, did not advance)
Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions:
Carla Ribeiro
Preliminary round — 568 hits (→ 32nd, did not advance)
Sara Antunes
Preliminary round — 571 hits (→ 29th, did not advance)
50m Freestyle:
Paulo Trindade
Heats (heat 5) — 23.73 (→ 5th, did not advance – 41st overall)
1500m Freestyle:
Pedro Ferreira
Heats (heat 2) — 16:34.55 (→ 7th, did not advance)
100m Backstroke:
Nuno Laurentino
Heats (heat 4) — 57.59 (→ 7th, did not advance – 31st overall)
200m Backstroke:
Nuno Laurentino
Heats (heat 3) — 2:05.95 (→ 7th, did not advance – 29th overall)
200m Breaststroke:
José Couto
Heats (heat 2) — 2:17.28 (→ 2nd, did not advance – 18th overall)
200m Butterfly:
Diogo Madeira
Heats (heat 3) — 2:01.58 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 25th overall)
4×100m Medley Relay:
José Couto, Miguel Cabrita, Miguel Machado and Nuno Laurentino
Heats (heat 4) — disqualified
200m Freestyle:
Ana Alegria
Heats (heat 3) — 2:05.16 (→ 4th, did not advance – 29th overall)
400m Freestyle:
Ana Alegria
Heats (heat 2) — 4:27.19 (→ 8th, did not advance)
100m Backstroke:
Maria Santos
Heats (heat 5) — 1:04.84 (→ 8th, did not advance – 22nd overall)
200m Backstroke:
Petra Chaves
Heats (heat 2) — 2:20.49 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 26th overall)
200m Breaststroke:
Joana Soutinho
Heats (heat 2) — 1:13.73 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 34th overall)
100m Butterfly:
Ana Francisco
Heats (heat 2) — 1:02.98 (→ 1st, did not advance – 26th overall)
200m Butterfly:
Ana Francisco
Heats (heat 3) — 2:17.61 (→ 7th, did not advance)
200m Individual Medley:
Petra Chaves
Heats (heat 2) — 2:22.03 (→ 3rd, did not advance – 33rd overall)
4×100m Medley Relay:
Ana Alegria, Ana Francisco, Joana Soutinho and Maria Santos
Heats (heat 3) — 4:21.61 (→ 7th, did not advance – 21st overall)
Men's Doubles Competition:
Bernardo Mota and Emanuel Couto
Round 1 — Mark Knowles and Roger Smith (BAH) (→ lost by 7-6, 7-6 – did not advance)
Men's Bantamweight (–59 kg):
Nuno Alves
Group B — 237,5 kg (→ 14th)
Men's Greco-Roman Bantamweight (–57 kg):
David Maia
Round 1 — Luis Sarmiento Hernández (CUB) (→ lost by 5-0)
Round 2 — Armando Fernández (MEX) (→ lost by 7-3, did not advance)
Vítor Fonseca da Mota (chief of mission)
Avelino Corbal Simões Azevedo (beach volleyball)
Nelo Vingada (football coach)
Agostinho Oliveira (football coach)
