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 across 18 sports.^[1] Two medals were won, one of them being Portugal's third Olympic gold, thanks to Fernanda Ribeiro's surprise 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.

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)

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'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)

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)

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)