Palau at the 2000 Summer Olympics Palau at the 2000 Summer Olympics Palau competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Palau is an island country located in the western region of the Caroline Islands, with a population of 21,431 as of July 2017. The nation gained independence in 1994 from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, under the trusteeship of the United States. The two countries also entered the Compact of Free Association that year, allowing the United States to be responsible for Palau's national defense. The Palau National Olympic Committee was formed in 1997,
Summer Olympic Games the 2020 Summer Olympics, when it will become the first city outside the Western world to have hosted the Summer Olympics more than once, having already hosted the Games in 1964. The other countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Soviet Union, and Sweden; each of these countries has hosted the Summer Games on just one occasion. Asia has hosted the Summer Olympics three times, in Tokyo, Japan (1964), Seoul, South Korea (1988), and Beijing, China (2008); Asia will host the Games for a fourth time in 2020