Peru's 1900 Olympic debut included 1 fencer, Carlos de Candamo, who competed in each of the foil and épée individual amateur events and reached the repechage (18th to 24th place) in the foil. As of the 2016 Games, the nation has yet to win a medal in the sport.
Peru was invited to join the Olympics for its first time in 1936,[1] when they were to be held at Berlin. Among the line of players featured in this first participation of the Blanquirroja were Alejandro Villanueva, Teodoro Fernández, Juan Valdivieso, and Adelfo Magallanes.[2] The Peruvian players, after arriving to Germany by transport of an Italian ship, were awestruck by the modern stadiums and the German idolatry of Adolf Hitler.[1] The first match against Finland was played on August 6, 1936, and was won with great ease by the Peruvians with a 7–3 result.[2] Peru's next match was against Austria in the quarterfinals. The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the Peruvians tied the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru scored 5 goals during overtime, of which 3 were nulled by the referee, and won by the final score of 4–2.[1]
The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that Peruvian fans had stormed the field, and because the field did not meet the requirements for a football game.[1][2] Austria further claimed that the Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrian players and that spectators, one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field."[3] Peru was notified of this situation, and they attempted to go to the assigned meeting but were delayed by a German parade.[1] At the end, the Peruvian defense was never heard, and the Olympic Committee and FIFA sided with the Austrians. The rematch was scheduled to be taken under close grounds on August 10, and later rescheduled to be taken on August 11.[2][3]
As a sign of protest against these actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the complete Olympic delegations of Peru and Colombia left Germany.[4][5] Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru.[3] Michael Dasso, a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We've no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants."[6] The game was awarded to Austria by default.[3] In Peru, angry crowds protested against the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag, throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the docks of Callao, and listening to inflammatory speeches which included President Oscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision."[3] To this day, it is not known with certainty what exactly happened at Germany, but it is popularly believed that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi authorities might have had some involvement in this situation.[5]
After 24 years, Peru once again qualified for the football tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome with their U-23 football team. The team started out with a surprise 1st-minute goal against France, scored by Ángel Uribe.[7] Peru would go on to lose 2–1 against the French, and were later beaten by Hungary 6–2, with Alberto Ramírez earning a brace.[8] The last match was played against India, and Peru would win 3–1 with goals by Nicolas Nieri and Thomas Iwasaki.[9]
Peru has not qualified again to the tournament since 1960, but were close to qualifying again in the 1964, 1972 and 1980 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament.
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