Chad competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. The country's participation at Athens marked its tenth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan. The delegation included two track and field athletes; Djikoloum Mobele in the men's 100 metres and Kaltouma Nadjina in the women's 400 metres. Both athletes participated at the Games through wild card places since they did not meet the required standards to qualify. Nadjina progressed past the first round of her competition, but was eliminated in the semi-finals.
Background
Chad participated in ten Summer Olympics between its debut in the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan, and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The only occasions in that period which they did not attend was at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. On both occasions, it was because they had joined with international boycotts of the events. The first boycott was because of the inclusion of the New Zealand team at the Games despite the breach of the international sports boycott of South Africa by the nation's rugby union team shortly prior. In 1980, Chad joined with the United States led boycott over the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War.
As of 2004, the highest number of Chadians participating at any one Games was six at both the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, and at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Nor had any Chadian ever won a medal at an Olympics.
Athletics
Chad was represented by one male athlete at the 2004 Games in athletics – Djikoloum Mobele in the 100 metres. He qualified for the 2004 Games through the use of a wildcard, since his season best time of 11.38 seconds for the 100 metres fell outside of the "B" qualifying standard of 10.28 seconds. He had been due to compete in the seventh heat, taking place on 21 August, however Mobele did not start the race.
The country's sole female athlete at the 2004 Games was Kaltouma Nadjina in the 400 metres. Her season best time of 50.80 seconds fell within the "A" qualifying time of 51.50 seconds. At her previous appearance at the Olympics, she reached the semi-finals of the 400 metres.
;Track events
{|class=wikitable style="font-size:90%"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan="2"|Heat
!colspan="2"|Quarterfinal
!colspan="2"|Semifinal
!colspan="2"|Final
|- style="font-size:95%"
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
!Result
!Rank
|-align=center
|align=left|Djikoloum Mobele
|align=left|100 m
|colspan=2|DNS
|colspan=6|Did not advance
|-
|-align=center
|align=left|Kaltouma Nadjina
|align=left|400 m
|51.50
|3 Q
|colspan=2
|51.57
|5
|colspan=2|Did not advance
|}