The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses three-letter abbreviation country codes to refer to each group of athletes that participate in the Olympic Games. Each code usually identifies a National Olympic Committee, but there are several codes that have been used for other instances in past Games, such as teams composed of athletes from multiple nations, or groups of athletes not formally representing any nation.

Several of the IOC codes are different from the standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes. Other sporting organisations, such as FIFA or the Commonwealth Games Federation, use similar country codes to refer to their respective teams.

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HistoryEdit

The 1956 Winter Olympics and 1960 Summer Olympics were the first Games to feature Initials of Nations to refer to each NOC in the published official reports.^[1] However, the codes used at the next few Games were often based on the host nation's language (e.g., GIA for Japan at the 1956 Winter Olympics and 1960 Summer Olympics, both held in Italy, from Italian Giappone) or based on the French name for the nation (e.g., COR for Korea, from Corée). By the 1972 Winter Olympics, most codes were standardized on the current usage, but several have changed in recent years. Additionally, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, division and unification of Germany, breakup of Yugoslavia, dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and several other instances of geographical renamingTemplate:Cn have all resulted in code changes.

In addition to this list of over 200 NOCs, the participation of National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) at the Paralympic Games requires standardised IOC codes. namely Macau and the Faroe Islands, coded MAC and FRO respectively.^[2][3]

Current NOCsEdit

There are 204 current NOCs (National Olympic Committees) within the Olympic Movement. The following tables show the currently used code for each NOC and any different codes used in past Games, per the official reports from those Games. Some of the past code usage is further explained in the following sections. Codes used specifically for a Summer Games only or a Winter Games only, within the same year, are indicated by "S" and "W" respectively.

AEdit

BEdit

CEdit

DEdit

EEdit

FEdit

GEdit

HEdit

IEdit

JEdit

KEdit

LEdit

MEdit

NEdit

OEdit

PEdit

QEdit

REdit

SEdit

TEdit

UEdit

VEdit

YEdit

ZEdit

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Historic NOCs and teamsEdit

Codes still in useEdit

Fourteen historical NOCs or teams have codes that are still used in the IOC results database^[5] to refer to past medal winners from these teams.

Obsolete codesEdit

Two other significant code changes have occurred, both because of a change in the nation's designation as used by the IOC:

• HOL was changed to NED for the Netherlands for the 1992 Games, reflecting the change in designation from Holland.
• IRN was changed to IRI for Iran for the 1992 Games, reflecting the change in designation to Islamic Republic of Iran.

Special codesEdit

• ANZ is now used in the IOC's medal database^[5] to identify the team from Australasia, composed of athletes from both Australia and New Zealand for the 1908 and 1912 Games. By 1920, both nations competed separately.
• EUA is now used in the IOC's medal database^[5] to identify the Unified Team of Germany, composed of athletes representing the NOCs of both East Germany and West Germany for the 1956–1964 Games. At the time, the team was simply known as Germany in the official reports for those six Games.
• EUN was used in 1992 (both Summer and Winter Games) for the Unified Team, composed of athletes from most of the ex-republics of the Soviet Union. Only the Baltic states were able to compete as independent teams in 1992; the other twelve new nations competed independently for the first time in 1994 and/or 1996.
• IOP was used for Independent Olympic Participants in 1992, a designation used for athletes from Yugoslavia who could not compete as a team due to United Nations sanctions.
• IOA was used for Individual Olympic Athletes in 2000, a designation used for athletes from Timor-Leste prior to the formation of its NOC. IOA will be used again in the 2012 Games. In 2012 it stands for Independent Olympic Athletes, which includes athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles and a runner from South Sudan. The Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee's membership from the IOC was withdrawn the previous year, and South Sudan has not formed an NOC.
• IOC was used as the country code for Athletes from Kuwait at the 2010 Asian Games, as the Kuwait Olympic Committee was suspended.
• ZZX is used to identify medals won by mixed teams of athletes from multiple nations (such as the combination of France and Great Britain, for example), a situation that happened several times in the Games of 1896, 1900, and 1904.

See alsoEdit

• Lists of National Olympic Committees by continental association:
  • Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa
  • European Olympic Committees
  • Oceania National Olympic Committees
  • Olympic Council of Asia
  • Pan American Sports Organization
• List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games
• List of participating nations at the Winter Olympic Games

ReferencesEdit

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• List of National Olympic Committees Participating in the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City (PDF). International Olympic Committee (2002-01-30). Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
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