The Yemen Olympic Committee was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1981. Both North Yemen and South Yemen made appearances at the Olympics in the 1980s. Following Yemeni Unification in 1990, the nation has sent a single team to every Olympics since the 1992 Summer Olympics. This made Sydney the third appearance at an Olympics by a unified Yemen, and the nation has yet to debut in the Winter Olympic Games. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from 15 September to 1 October 2000; a total of 10,651 athletes represented 199 National Olympic Committees. Yemen sent two track and field competitors to Sydney, Basheer Al-Khewani and Hana Ali Saleh. Al-Khewani was selected as the flag-bearer for the opening ceremony.