Cook Islands at the 1992 Summer Olympics recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1986. The nation made its first Olympic appearance at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and have sent a delegation to every Summer Olympic Games since. Barcelona was therefore their second time competing in the Summer Olympics, and they have never participated in a Winter Olympic Games. As of 2018 the Cook Islands have never won a medal at the Olympics. The 1992 Summer Olympics were held from 25 July to 9 August; a total of 9,356 athletes represented 169 National Olympic Committees. The Cook Islands' delegation to Barcelona consisted of two competitors,
Olympic medal Paris Mint, which also made the medals for the 1900 Olympic Games, hosted by Paris. This started the tradition of giving the responsibility of minting the medals to the host city. For the next few Olympiads the host city also chose the medal design. Until 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold. In 1923 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched a competition for sculptors to design the medals for the Summer Olympic Games. Giuseppe Cassioli's "Trionfo" design was chosen as the winner in 1928. The obverse brought back Nike but this time as the main focus, holding a