Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Flag of the Soviet Union
IOC code	URS
NOC	Soviet Olympic Committee
in Seoul, South Korea 17 September 1988 (1988-09-17) – 2 October 1988 (1988-10-02)
Competitors	481 (319 men, 162 women) in 27 sports
Flag bearer	Aleksandr Karelin (wrestling)
Medals Ranked 1st	Gold 55 Silver 31 Bronze 46 Total 132
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988
Other related appearances
Russian Empire (1900–1912)  Estonia (1920–1936, 1992–)  Latvia (1924–1936, 1992–)  Lithuania (1924–1928, 1992–)  Unified Team (1992)  Armenia (1994–)  Belarus (1994–)  Georgia (1994–)  Kazakhstan (1994–)  Kyrgyzstan (1994–)  Moldova (1994–)  Russia (1994–2016)  Ukraine (1994–)  Uzbekistan (1994–)  Azerbaijan (1996–)  Tajikistan (1996–)  Turkmenistan (1996–)  ROC (2020–2022)

The Soviet Union (USSR) competed, for the last time before its dissolution, at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. 481 competitors, 319 men and 162 women, took part in 221 events in 27 sports.^[1] Athletes from 12 of the ex-Soviet republics would compete as the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and each nation would field independent teams in subsequent Games.

The Soviet Union utterly dominated the medal count, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. It is the largest Olympic medal tally in history achieved by a non-host nation. Currently, China's and the USA 48 gold medals in 2008 and 2012, respectively, and USA's 121 total medals in 2016 are the closest results to USSR's 1988 performance. The Soviet Union medal tally currently ranks fourth both in terms of gold and total medals, after USA's 1984 performance, USSR's 1980 performance, USA's 1904 performance, and Britain's 1908 performance.