In 1924, All-China Sports Association was founded, with the efforts of Zhang Boling, Wang Zhengting and others. In 1931, the international Olympic Committee formally recognized the Association as Chinese Olympic Committee. China was represented for the first time, by runner Liu Changchun, at Olympic Games when the 10th Olympic were held in Los Angeles in 1932.

China won its first Olympic medal when Yang Chuanguang from Taiwan won silver medal for the decathlon at 17th Olympic in 1960. In 19th Olympic in 1968, Taiwan athlete Ji Zheng won bronze medal in women's 80-meter hurdle, which was the first Olympic medal won by a Chinese female athlete.

In 1979, International Olympic Committee restored the PRC's legal seat on the committee.

In July 1984, Chinese marksman Xu Haifeng won Chinese first gold medal at 23rd Olympic held in Los Angeles. At this Olympic, China ranked fourth in gold medal standings. Chinese women's volleyball team also won a gold medal, attaining three successive Championships for the sport (the other two being the World Cup and the World Championships).

China attended the Seoul (24th), Barcelona (25th) and Atlanta (26th) Olympics.

At 27th Olympics held in Sydney in September 2000, Chinese athletes won 59 medals, ranking China third in medal standings.

At 28th Athens Olympics in August 2004, Chinese athletes won a record of 63 medals, among which 32 were gold. By then, China had been represented at 14 sessions of Olympics Games.

On July 13th, 2001, China bided for the 2008 Olympics was successful; in September that year, China hosted 21st Universiade, which vigorously promoted development of China's sports, demonstrated the increase of China overall national strength and enhanced Chinese international status.