Seoul hosted the Games of the XXIV Olympiad from 17 September to 2 October 1988, drawing a then-record 159 delegations as the era of major Cold War boycotts came to an end and most leading sporting nations returned to the same Games. About 8,400 athletes competed across 23 sports.

The edition is remembered for standout performances in athletics and swimming, and for a high-profile doping controversy in the men's 100 metres. Tennis returned to the Olympic programme as a full medal sport, and table tennis made its debut. Qatar competed at its second Olympics in Seoul with a small delegation of 10 athletes. The team did not win a medal and its participation was modest in scale, but Seoul reinforced Qatar's commitment to continuous Olympic involvement following its 1984 debut.

The Games came at a formative stage for Qatari sport, several years before the country's first Olympic medal in Barcelona. Seoul 1988 formed part of the foundation on which Qatar's later Olympic delegations and results would be built, as the national committee steadily expanded its programmes and its base of competing athletes.