Category: sporting events

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2012. You can also read the London 2012, Sochi 2014, and Rio 2016 versions.

Map of all countries in the Olympics and their regional associations. By Evan Centanni, modeled after this map.

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang County, South Korea officially open tomorrow, February 9th! They’ll be the second Olympics to be hosted in South Korea, after the 1988 Summer Games. These are also only the third–ever Winter Olympics to be held outside of Europe and North America, following up the 1972 and 1998 games hosted by Japan.

Of course, it wouldn’t be an Olympic opening ceremony without the Parade of Nations. But how many countries are there in the games, and is everyone included? Read on for PolGeoNow’s updated guide to the roster of Olympic Nations…

How many countries are in the Olympics?

There are currently 206 recognized Olympic Nations, represented by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) in each country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) presides over the Olympic Games themselves, and the NOCs are divided between five continental associations (see map above).[1]

If 206 countries sounds like too many, don’t worry – you’re not going crazy. The UN only recognizes 195 countries worldwide (See: How Many Countries Are There in the World?). So what gives? Well, it turns out the IOC used to be more relaxed than the UN about requirements for nationhood…

Dependent territories that are Olympic Nations

Before 1995, countries’ overseas territories and other dependencies were allowed to qualify for the Olympics on their own, since many are self-governing and technically not “part of” the countries they belong to. The ones that got approved before the rules changed have been grandfathered in, and today ten of those territories hold Olympic Nation status:

Click to enlarge: Dependent territories and partially recognized countries admitted to the Olympics.

Americas
 Aruba (Netherlands)
 Bermuda (UK)
 British Virgin Islands (UK)
 Cayman Islands (UK)
 Puerto Rico (US)
 Virgin Islands (US)

Asia
 Hong Kong (China)

Oceania
 American Samoa (US)
 Guam (US)
 Cook Islands (New Zealand)

Unrecognized countries that are Olympic Nations

These days, to qualify as a new Olympic Nation you have to be an “independent State recognised by the international community“. The usual way to meet that requirement is to become an official member of the United Nations (UN). But there are actually three non-UN countries that also participate:

 Taiwan
 Palestine
 Kosovo

Taiwan– which is claimed by China but ruled as an independent country under a pre-communist version of the Chinese constitution – was allowed to stay after the communist government in Beijing took over UN  representation of Mainland China in 1979. But a compromise deal made at the time says Taiwan has to call itself “Chinese Taipei” in the games.[2]

Disputed Palestine, whose claimed territory is largely controlled by Israel, was admitted in 1995 for the sake of athletes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, whose residents don’t have Israeli citizenship. Palestine has since been recognized as a UN observer state, but at the time it had no UN status. On the other hand, it had already been recognized individually by about 100 of the world’s countries (more than half of the UN’s members).

The third non-UN country in the Olympics, Kosovo, is a more recent addition. A region that controversially declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo has been blocked from UN membership by objections from Serbia, Russia, and other countries. Still, the IOC decided to admit Kosovo as an Olympic Nation in 2014 after about 55% of UN member countries had recognized Kosovan independence.

Which countries are new to the Olympics?

Though they’ve participated in the Summer Olympics before, this week there are six countries that will be joining the Winter Olympics for the first time ever:

 Ecuador
 Eritrea
 Kosovo
 Malaysia
 Nigeria
 Singapore

Most of these countries have only one athlete competing in PyeongChang 2018, except for Malaysia, which has two, and Nigeria, which has three. (Click the country names in the list for more information on their 2018 Olympic participants and sports!)

No entirely new Olympic Nations have been approved by the IOC since the Rio 2016 games, though PyeongChang 2018 will feature one very large national-level “team” that technically didn’t participate in previous Olympics. Because Russia has been suspended from the games over an ongoing drug-related cheating scandal, the Russian athletes allowed to individually participate this year can’t use the Russian flag or national anthem. Instead, they’ll be part of a special group called “Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)“, which uses the flag and national anthem of the Olympic Games.

And there’s one more technically-new team participating in this month’s Olympics: Korea. As a gesture of peace, North Korea and South Korea will be walking in the Parade of Nations under the Korean Unification Flag. They’ve done that before, at the 2000, 2004, and 2006 Olympics – but this year, for the first time ever, they’ll also compete together as a single team in one sport: ice hockey. In other sports, they’ll be competing separately as usual.

Why would the two Koreas want to make a gesture of unification? Because each country considers itself the rightful government of all Korea, and they agree on the basic principle that the Korean Peninsula should eventually be unified.

Learn More: What is North Korea, and how did it become divided from the South?

At the Rio 2016 games, there were two new Olympic Nations: Kosovo, the disputed breakaway state mentioned above, and South Sudan, which became independent and joined the UN in 2011, then was approved as an Olympic Nation in 2015. Before that, the last Olympics to have new countries were the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, where the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, and Tuvalu were added to the list.

Which countries aren’t in the Olympics at all?

There’s only one UN-recognized independent country not represented in the Olympics: Vatican City, the independent Catholic Church headquarters in Rome, has never applied. Still, despite the inclusive and worldwide mission of the Olympic Games, not all applicants have been allowed in.

The ten dependent territories allowed to participate in the Olympics are only a select few, leaving most of the world’s overseas dependencies without their own teams (though athletes from the territories are allowed to apply for their patron countries’ teams). Self-proclaimed countries not recognized by the UN aren’t usually admitted either, even if they’re effectively independent. In fact, there are quite a few dependent territories and unrecognized countries that have created National Olympic Committees, or said they plan to, but haven’t been recognized by the IOC:

Click to enlarge: Territories and self-proclaimed countries not allowed to send teams to the Olympics.

Africa
 Somaliland (self-proclaimed country)

Americas
 Anguilla (UK territory)
 Montserrat (UK territory)
 Turks & Caicos (UK territory)

Asia
Kurdistan (autonomous region of Iraq)
 Macau (autonomous region of China)[3]

Europe
 Abkhazia (self-proclaimed country)
 Catalonia (region of Spain)
 Faroe Islands (associated state of Denmark)
 Gibraltar (UK territory)
 Northern Cyprus (self-proclaimed country)
 South Ossetia (self-proclaimed country)

Oceania
 New Caledonia (territory of France) [4]
 Niue (associated state of New Zealand) [4]
 Norfolk Island (outlying island of Australia) [4]
 Northern Mariana Islands (US territory) [4]
 Tahiti (territory of France) [4]
 Tokelau (territory of New Zealand) [4]
 Wallis and Futuna (territory of France) [4]

How many countries are attending the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games?

Being an Olympic Nation doesn’t mean you have to actually send athletes to every Olympics. And unlike the Summer Games, which sometimes feature every single recognized Olympic nation, it’s normal for a lot of countries to skip the Winter Olympics. Not surprisingly, most of the absentees are tropical countries where there are few chances to practice winter sports – though there are always a few exceptions. 

This year there are 91 nations participating in the games – a record high for the Winter Olympics, beating out the previous record of 89 nations from Sochi 2014. Adding in the special “Olympic Athletes from Russia” group and the joint Korea team (both discussed above under “Which countries are new?”), that leaves a total of 93 different flags athletes will compete under at PyeongChang 2018. Wikipedia has a full list of the participating teams, complete with links to the athlete rosters for each country.

About 20 of the teams are from tropical countries and territories, while the only real cold northern country missing is Russia, due to the ban on its official national team. Still, there are a few countries with snowy mountain ranges – like Nepal, Peru, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan – that are also sitting it out this winter.

Because the separate North Korea and South Korea teams are marching together under “Korea”, there will only be 91 delegations in the Parade of Nations (though North and South Korea will still compete under their separate flags for most sports). There’s a complete, ordered list of the 2018 Parade of Nations countries and flagbearers at Wikipedia.

Are you watching the Parade of Nations? Tweet to us @PolGeoNow with your thoughts or questions!

Footnotes

[1] The five associations are based closely on the world’s continents, but with a few quirks: The southern Caucasus, Israel, and eastern Turkey are part of the European association despite traditionally being considered part of Asia; and the South American territory of French Guiana also falls under European jurisdiction, because it’s considered part of France and doesn’t have a separate team.

[2] “Chinese Taipei” is intended to be ambiguous, since most Taiwanese people consider themselves to be at least culturally Chinese. However, the use of “Taipei” is unfortunate for the two-thirds of Taiwan’s people who don’t live in or near the city of Taipei. This was especially awkward when the 2009 World Games (an Olympics-affiliated event) were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan – something of a rival city to Taipei. 

[3] Although Macau’s NOC isn’t recognized by the IOC itself, it has been accepted as a member of its continental organization, the Olympic Council of Asia. Macau participates in the Asian Games and Paralympic Games, but not in the regular Olympics.

[4] Seven dependent territories in Oceania are associate members of the Oceania National Olympic Committees. They’re allowed to participate in some regionally-organized sporting events, but not in the Olympics.

This is an older version of our Parade of Nations article. Click here to see the newest edition!

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2012. You can also read the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 versions.

Map of all countries in the Olympics and their regional associations. Two newest Olympic Nations labeled. (By Evan Centanni, starting from public domain blank map and modeled after this Wikipedia map)

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil officially open tonight, Friday, August 5th! They’ll be the first Olympics ever to be held in South America, and also the first in any Portuguese-speaking country. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also the first Summer Olympics to be held entirely in the winter!

Of course, it wouldn’t be an Olympic opening ceremony without the Parade of Nations. But how many countries are there in the games, and is everyone included? Read on for an exclusive updated guide to the roster of Olympic Nations…

How many countries are in the Olympics?

There are currently 206 recognized Olympic Nations, represented by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) in each country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) presides over the Olympic Games themselves, and the NOCs are divided between five continental associations (see map above).[1]

If 206 countries sounds like too many, don’t worry, you’re not going crazy. The UN only recognizes 195 countries worldwide (See: How Many Countries Are There in the World?). So what gives? Well, it turns out the IOC has historically been more lax than the UN about requirements for nationhood…

Dependent Territories that are Olympic Nations

Before 1995, some dependent territories were allowed to qualify for the Olympics, and were allowed to stay even after the rules changed. Today, ten of these territories hold Olympic Nation status:

Click to enlarge: Dependent territories and partially recognized countries admitted to the Olympics. (By Evan Centanni, from public domain base map)

Americas
 Aruba (Netherlands)
 Bermuda (UK)
 British Virgin Islands (UK)
 Cayman Islands (UK)
 Puerto Rico (US)
 Virgin Islands (US)

Asia
 Hong Kong (China)

Oceania
 American Samoa (US)
 Guam (US)
 Cook Islands (New Zealand)

Unrecognized countries that are Olympic Nations

These days, to qualify as a new Olympic Nation you have to be an “independent State recognised by the international community“. The most obvious way to meet that is to be an official member or observer state in the United Nations (UN). However, there are three non-UN countries that also participate:

 Taiwan
 Palestine
 Kosovo

Taiwan– which is claimed by China but ruled as an independent country under a pre-Communist version of the Chinese constitution – was allowed to stay after the Communist government in Beijing took over representation of Mainland China in 1979. However, a compromise deal made at the time says Taiwan has to call itself “Chinese Taipei” in the games.[2]

Disputed Palestine, whose claimed territory is largely controlled by the military of Israel, was admitted in 1995 for the sake of athletes in Gaza and the West Bank, whose residents don’t have Israeli citizenship. Palestine has since been recognized as a UN observer state, but at the time it had no UN status. However, it had already been recognized individually by about 100 of the world’s countries (more than half of the UN’s members).

The third non-UN country in the Olympics, Kosovo, is a new addition. A separatist state that controversially declared independence from Serbia eight years ago, Kosovo has never been allowed into the UN due to objections from Serbia, Russia, and others. But the IOC decided to admit Kosovo as an Olympic Nation in 2014, after about 55% of UN member countries had recognized the breakaway state as independent.

Which countries are new to the Olympics?

There are two new Olympic Nations that have been approved since the last games: Kosovo, the disputed breakaway state mentioned above, and South Sudan, which became independent and joined the UN in 2011. At the time of the 2008 and 2014 Olympics, South Sudan’s sports world wasn’t organized enough to even apply to join the IOC, but it finally got things together and was approved as an Olympic Nation in summer of 2015.

Although not an actual “nation”, there will be one other new national-level team attending Rio 2016: the Refugee Olympic Team. This team was put together by the IOC in honor of the record-high number of people in the world who have been forced to leave their home countries to escape wars. Its 10 hand-selected athletes, all of whom are refugees themselves, will have their own place in the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony.

The last Olympic Games that had new countries were the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, and Tuvalu were added to the list. There were no new Olympic Nations approved between then and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, nor in time for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Read more:
New Olympic Nation: South Sudan
Kosovo becomes an Olympic Nation

Which countries aren’t included in the Olympics?

Despite the inclusive and worldwide mission of the Olympic Games, not all applicant countries have been allowed in. In fact, one UN-recognized country still hasn’t joined: UN observer Vatican City, the independent Catholic Church headquarters in Rome, has never applied.

The ten dependent territories allowed to participate in the Olympics are only a select few, leaving most of the world’s overseas dependencies without their own teams (though athletes from the territories are allowed to apply for their patron countries’ teams). Meanwhile, partially recognized or unrecognized countries aren’t usually admitted either, even if they’re effectively independent. In fact, there are quite a few National Olympic Committees that have been created locally but not recognized by the IOC. Here’s a partial list:

Click to enlarge: Territories and sovereign states not represented in the Olympics. Light Blue: No NOC; Dark Blue: NOC not recognized by IOC. Also shown in dark blue outlines: subnational regions with unrecognized NOCs. (By Evan Centanni, from public domain map)

Africa
 Somaliland (unrecognized country)

Americas
 Anguilla (UK territory)
 Montserrat (UK territory)
 Turks & Caicos (UK territory)

Asia
 Iraqi Kurdistan (autonomous region of Iraq)
 Macau (autonomous region of China)[3]

Europe
 Abkhazia (partially recognized country)
 Catalonia (region of Spain)
 Gibraltar (UK territory)
 Northern Cyprus (partially recognized country)

Oceania
 New Caledonia (territory of France) [4]
 Niue (associated state of New Zealand) [4]
 Norfolk Island (outlying island of Australia) [4]
 Northern Mariana Islands (US territory) [4]
 Tahiti (territory of France) [4]
 Tokelau (territory of New Zealand) [4]
 Wallis and Futuna (territory of France) [4]

Which countries are attending the Rio 2016 Olympic Games?

Being an Olympic Nation doesn’t mean you have to actually send athletes to the Olympics every time. For example, many tropical countries choose to just skip the Winter Olympics altogether. But this year, all the Olympic Nations will have athletes participating in Rio…except one.

Kuwait, which is in a drawn out dispute with the IOC over rules about government interference in sports, will not have an official team at the games. However, Kuwaiti athletes are being allowed to participate as “independent Olympic athletes”, using the Olympic flag instead of the flag of Kuwait.

That makes a total of 205 official Olympic Nations participating in the Rio 2016 games – a record high, since in London 2012 there were only 204 recognized Olympic nations in the world (and they all did attend). Add the independent Kuwaiti athletes and the new Refugee Olympic Team, and there will be a total of 207 delegations in the Parade of Nations tonight.

More Details: 2016 Parade of Nations: List of countries and flagbearers in order of entrance

Footnotes

[1] The five associations are based closely on the world’s continents, but with a few quirks: The Caucasus, Israel, and eastern Turkey are part of the European association despite geographers usually putting them in Asia; and the South American territory of French Guiana also falls under European jurisdiction, because it’s considered part of France and doesn’t have a separate team.

[2] “Chinese Taipei” is intended to be ambiguous, since most Taiwanese people consider themselves to be at least culturally Chinese. However, the use of “Taipei” is unfortunate for the two-thirds of Taiwan’s people who don’t live in or near the city of Taipei. This was especially awkward when the 2009 World Games (an Olympics-connected event) were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan – something of a rival city to Taipei. 

[3] Although Macau’s NOC isn’t recognized by the IOC itself, it has been accepted as a member of its continental organization, the Olympic Council of Asia. Macau participates in the Asian Games and Paralympic Games, but not in the regular Olympics.

[4] Seven dependent territories in Oceania are associate members of the Oceania National Olympic Committees. They’re allowed to participate in some regionally-organized sporting events, but not in the Olympics.

This is an older version of our Parade of Nations article. Click here to see the newest edition!

[This article was first published in July 2012 as “Parade of Nations: Which Countries Are (and Aren’t) in the Olympics?“, in connection with that year’s Summer Olympics in London. The following article is an updated version for the 2014 Sochi Winter games.]

The five continental associations representing the world’s Olympic Nations. Gold: Pan-American Sports Organization; Green: European Olympic Committees; Black: Olympic Council of Asia; Red: Oceania National Olympic Committees; Blue: Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa; Gray: non-member country or territory. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this blank map and modeled after this Wikipedia map.

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The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia officially begin tonight (Feb. 7), and it wouldn’t be an Olympic opening ceremony without the Parade of Nations. But how many countries are there in the games, and is everyone included? Read on for an exclusive guide to the roster of Olympic Nations….

How many countries participate in the Olympics?
There are currently 204 recognized Olympic Nations, represented by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) in each country. The games are presided over by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the NOCs are divided among five continental associations (see map above). [1]

If 204 countries sounds like too many, don’t worry, you’re not going crazy. Indeed, the U.N. only recognizes 195 sovereign states in the world (See: How Many Countries Are There in the World?). So what gives? Well, it turns out that the IOC has historically been more lax than the U.N. about the criteria for nationhood. Before 1995, some dependent territories were allowed to qualify for the Olympics, and were allowed to stay even after the rules changed. Today, there are ten such territories with Olympic Nation status:

Click to enlarge: Dependent territories and partially recognized sovereign states admitted to the Olympics. By Evan Centanni, from public domain base map (source).

Americas
 Aruba (Netherlands)
 Bermuda (U.K.)
 British Virgin Islands (U.K.)
 Cayman Islands (U.K.)
 Puerto Rico (U.S.)
 Virgin Islands (U.S.)

Asia
 Hong Kong (China)

Oceania
 American Samoa (U.S.)
 Guam (U.S.)
 Cook Islands (New Zealand)

Besides those exceptions, qualifying as a nation usually requires recognition as a sovereign state by the U.N. Nevertheless, in 1995 disputed Palestine was admitted for the sake of athletes in Gaza and the West Bank, the two semi-autonomous Palestinian Territories which are largely cut off from the main territory of Israel (this was long before Palestine’s recognition as a U.N. observer state). Meanwhile Taiwan, which is claimed by China but effectively ruled as an independent country, has also been allowed to participate – but only on the condition that it calls itself “Chinese Taipei”. [2]

Changes to the roster
Six years ago at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, there were three new Olympic Nations: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, and Tuvalu. But since then, no new countries have joined.

A controversy erupted last year when the Russian Olympic Committee listed unrecognized breakaway states South Ossetia and Abkhazia as nations in its database, but the IOC quickly chimed in to remind everyone that it was irrelevant. Russia recognizes the independence of these two states, which seceded from Georgia decades ago and were contested again in a 2008 war, but neither has an internationally recognized Olympic committee.

India, though a long-time member of the IOC, was suspended in December 2012 over problems with the election process in its national committee. The issue was not quite resolved in time for the 2014 games, so India’s three qualifying winter olympians will be participating independently under the Olympic flag. [Update Feb. 16: India’s membership has now been reinstated, and its athletes may compete and walk in the closing ceremony under the Indian flag.]

Which countries aren’t included in the Olympics?
Despite the inclusive and worldwide mission of the Olympic Games, not all of the world’s states are represented. In fact, two U.N.-recognized countries still haven’t joined: South Sudan apparently still hasn’t formed an NOC since gaining independence in 2011, and U.N. observer state Vatican City, the independent Catholic Church headquarters in Rome, has never applied.

The ten dependent territories allowed to participate in the Olympics are only a select few, leaving most of the world’s overseas dependencies without their own teams (though athletes from the territories may attempt to qualify for their patron countries’ teams). Meanwhile, partially recognized or unrecognized states are not usually admitted either, even if they are effectively independent. In fact, there are a number of National Olympic Committees which have been created locally but not recognized by the IOC. Here’s a partial list:

Click to enlarge: Territories and sovereign states not represented in the Olympics. Light Blue: No NOC; Dark Blue: NOC not recognized by IOC. Also shown in dark blue outlines: subnational regions with unrecognized NOCs. By Evan Centanni, from public domain map (source).

Africa
 Somaliland (unrecognized sovereign state)

Americas
 Anguilla (U.K. territory)
 Montserrat (U.K. territory)
 Turks & Caicos (U.K. territory)

Asia
 Iraqi Kurdistan (autonomous region in Iraq)
 Macau (Special Administrative Region of China) [3]

Europe
 Abkhazia (partially recognized sovereign state)
 Catalonia (region of Spain)
 Gibraltar (U.K. territory)
 Kosovo (partially recognized sovereign state)
 Northern Cyprus (partially recognized sovereign state)

Oceania
 French Polynesia (French territory)
 New Caledonia (French territory)
 Niue (free associate state of New Zealand)
 Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. territory)

Which countries are attending the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics?
Unlike the Summer Olympics, which all qualified countries attended two years ago, it’s normal that a lot of countries skip the Winter Olympics. Not surprisingly, most of the absentees are tropical countries where there are fewer chances to practice winter sports. However, there are some exceptions (see map below).

This year there will be a total of 88 nations participating in the Olympics – a record high for the Winter games. [Update Feb. 16: There are now 89 participating nations – check out the updated map.] Wikipedia has a full list of the participating nations, complete with links to the athlete rosters for each national team. Notably, there are seven nations participating in the Winter Olympics for the first time ever this year:

Click to enlarge: Nations attending the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in green; first time Winter Olympics attendees in bright green; ineligible countries/territories in gray. By Evan Centanni, from public domain base map. [Click here for an updated version of this map.]

Africa
 Togo
 Zimbabwe

Americas
 Dominica
 Paraguay 

Asia
 Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Europe
 Malta

Oceania
 Tonga

More Info: 2014 Parade of Nations – ordered list of countries and flagbearers (Wikipedia)

Footnotes

[1] The five associations correspond closely to conventional definitions of the continents, but with a few quirks: Turkey, the Caucasus, and Israel are part of the European association despite being geographically in Asia; and the South American territory of French Guiana also falls under European jurisdiction, because it is considered an integral part of France and does not have a separate team.

[2] “Chinese Taipei” is intended to be ambiguous, since most Taiwanese people consider themselves to be at least culturally Chinese. However, the use of “Taipei” is somewhat unfortunate for the two-thirds of Taiwan’s people who do not live in or near Taipei City. This was especially awkward when the 2009 World Games (an Olympics-connected event) were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan – something of a rival city to Taipei. 

[3] Although Macau’s NOC is not recognized by the IOC itself, it has in fact been accepted as a member of the relevant continental organization, the Olympic Council of Asia. Macau has participated in the Paralympic Games but not in the regular Olympics.

This is an older version of our Parade of Nations article. Click here to see the newest edition!

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London begin tomorrow (July 27), and it wouldn’t be an Olympic opening ceremony without the Parade of Nations. But how many countries are there in the games, and is everyone included? Read on for an exclusive guide to the roster of Olympic Nations….

The five continental associations representing the world’s Olympic Nations. Gold: Pan-American Sports Organization; Green: European Olympic Committees; Black: Olympic Council of Asia; Red: Oceania National Olympic Committees; Blue: Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa; Gray: non-member country or territory. Map by Evan Centanni, modified from public domain wiki map (source), and modeled after this Wikipedia map.

How many countries participate in the Olympics?
There are currently 204 recognized Olympic Nations, represented by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) in each country. The games are presided over by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the NOCs are divided among five continental associations (see map above). [1]

If 204 countries sounds like too many, don’t worry, you’re not going crazy. Indeed, the U.N. only recognizes 194 sovereign states in the world (see also: How Many Countries Are There in the World?). So what gives? Well, it turns out that the IOC has historically been more lax than the U.N. about the criteria for nationhood. Before 1995, some dependent territories were allowed to qualify for the Olympics, and were allowed to stay even after the rules changed. Today, there are ten such territories with Olympic Nation status:

Click to enlarge: Dependent territories and partially recognized sovereign states admitted to the Olympics. By Evan Centanni, from public domain base map (source).

Americas
 Aruba (Netherlands)
 Bermuda (U.K.)
 British Virgin Islands (U.K.)
 Cayman Islands (U.K.)
 Puerto Rico (U.S.)
 Virgin Islands (U.S.)

Asia
 Hong Kong (China)

Oceania
 American Samoa (U.S.)
 Guam (U.S.)
 Cook Islands (New Zealand)

Besides those exceptions, qualifying as a nation usually requires recognition as a sovereign state by the U.N. However, in 1995 disputed Palestine was admitted for the sake of athletes in Gaza and the West Bank, the two semi-autonomous Palestinian Territories which are largely cut off from the main territory of Israel. And Taiwan, which is claimed by China but effectively ruled as an independent country by the pre-Communist Republic of China government, has also been allowed to participate – but only as long as it refers to itself as “Chinese Taipei”. [2]

Changes to the roster
In the last Summer Olympics in Beijing (2008), there were three new Olympic Nations: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, and Tuvalu. But since then, no new countries have joined. In fact, one has been removed: the Netherlands Antilles, a Dutch dependency in the Caribbean, was ruled ineligible by the IOC last year after the territory was officially dissolved.

Location of the former Netherlands Antilles. Public domain map (source).

Two of the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles are now separate Dutch territories, and the other three islands have joined the Netherlands proper. Since the IOC no longer admits dependent territories, none of the islands can rejoin under their new administrations, but the former territory’s team of three athletes will be allowed to participate independently under the Olympic flag for now. After 2012, they will need to qualify for the Netherlands team in order to join future games.

Which countries aren’t included in the Olympics?
Despite the inclusive and worldwide mission of the Olympic Games, not all of the world’s states are represented. In fact, two U.N.-recognized countries still haven’t joined: newly independent South Sudan has not yet formed an NOC, though one of its athletes has been accepted to compete under the Olympic flag this time; and U.N. observer state Vatican City, which perhaps doesn’t consider itself a “nation” (since it serves only as the headquarters of the Catholic Church), has never applied.

The ten dependent territories allowed to participate in the Olympics are only a select few, leaving most of the world’s overseas dependencies without their own teams (though athletes from the territories may attempt to qualify for their patron country’s team). And partially recognized or unrecognized states are not usually admitted, even if they are effectively independent. In fact, there are a number of National Olympic Committees which have been created locally but not recognized by the IOC:

Click to enlarge: Territories and sovereign states not represented in the Olympics. Light Blue: No NOC; Dark Blue: NOC not recognized by IOC. Also shown in dark blue outlines: subnational regions with unrecognized NOCs. By Evan Centanni, from public domain map (source).

Africa
 Somaliland (unrecognized sovereign state)

Americas
 Anguilla (U.K. territory)
 Montserrat (U.K. territory)
 Turks & Caicos (U.K. territory)

Asia
 Iraqi Kurdistan (autonomous region in Iraq)
 Macau (Special Administrative Region of China) [3]

Europe
 Abkhazia (partially recognized sovereign state)
 Catalonia (region of Spain)
 Gibraltar (U.K. territory)
 Kosovo (partially recognized sovereign state)
 Northern Cyprus (partially recognized sovereign state)

Oceania
 French Polynesia (French territory)
 New Caledonia (French territory)
 Niue (free associate state of New Zealand)
 Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. territory)

Which countries are attending the London 2012 Olympics?
It’s not uncommon for a few countries to miss the Olympic Games in a given year – a small country fails to field a team, a big country boycotts, or tropical countries skip the Winter Olympics – but the London 2012 games are special. This year, all 204 recognized Olympic Nations will be attending the games, resulting in one of the biggest international sports events in history. Wikipedia has a full list of the participating nations, complete with links to the rosters for each national team.

Number of athletes sent to the London 2012 Olympics by each participating country. Map by Foreston/Wikipedia (source). License: CC BY-SA

Now that you know the background on the Parade of Nations, you can watch the London 2012 opening ceremony and games with a new understanding of the political geography behind the sporting event – if you have any questions, post a comment or shoot me an e-mail!

Further info: 2012 Parade of Nations – ordered list of countries and flagbearers (Wikipedia)

Footnotes

[1] The five associations correspond closely to conventional definitions of the continents, but with a few quirks: Turkey, the Caucasus, and Israel are part of the European association despite being geographically in Asia; and the South American territory of French Guiana also falls under European jurisdiction, because it is considered an integral part of France and does not have a separate team.

[2] “Chinese Taipei” is intended to be ambiguous, since most Taiwanese people consider themselves to be at least culturally Chinese. However, the use of “Taipei” is somewhat unfortunate for the two-thirds of Taiwan’s people who do not live in or near Taipei City. This was especially awkward when the 2009 World Games (an Olympics-related event) were held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan – something of a rival city to Taipei. 

[3] Although Macau’s NOC is not recognized by the IOC itself, it has in fact been accepted as a member of the relevant continental organization, the Olympic Council of Asia. Macau has participated in the Paralympic Games but not in the regular Olympics.