Luxembourg Olympic and Sporting Committee selected a team of 10 athletes to compete in five sports at the Games.[2] The nation's roster in Rio de Janeiro was also a replication to those sent to Athens 2004, but had an equal share between men and women with five each. Among the sports represented by the athletes, Luxembourg staged its Olympic comeback in track and field from a 12-year absence.
The Luxembourg team featured six returning Olympians. Five of them competed at London 2012, with the exception of professional road cyclist Fränk Schleck, who staged an eight-year comeback to his third and final Olympic circuit in Rio de Janeiro before retiring from the sport.[3] Other notable Luxembourgian athletes were swimmers Raphaël Stacchiotti and Laurent Carnol, table tennis player and four-time Olympian Ni Xialian, and world no. 44 tennis player Gilles Müller, who led the team as the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[1]
Luxembourg, however, failed to win its first Olympic medal, since the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, where middle-distance runner Josy Barthel took home the men's 1500 m title.
Luxembourgish athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event), signifying the nation's Olympic return to the sport for the first time since 2004:[4][5]
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
Luxembourgish riders qualified for the following quota places in the men's and women's Olympic road race by virtue of their best individual ranking in the 2015 UCI World Tour (for men) and top 22 national finish in the 2016 UCI World Ranking (for women).[6][7]
Luxembourgish swimmers have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and potentially 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):[8][9]
Luxembourg has entered one athlete into the table tennis competition at the Games. Remarkably going to her fifth Olympics, Ni Xialian granted an invitation from ITTF to compete in the women's singles as one of the next seven highest-ranked eligible players, not yet qualified, on the Olympic Ranking List.[10]
Luxembourg has entered one tennis player into the Olympic tournament. London 2012 Olympian Gilles Müller (world no. 44) qualified directly for the men's singles as one of the top 56 eligible players in the ATP World Rankings as of June 6, 2016.[11][12]
