A national olympic committee is a national constituent of the worldwide
Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic
Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation
in the Olympic Games. They may nominate cities within their respective areas as
candidates for future Olympic Games. NOCs also promote the development of
athletes and training of coaches and officials at a national level within
their geographies. National Olympic Committees
As of 2015 there are 206 NOCs: Each of the 193 member states of the United
Nations; United Nations observer state Palestine; the Cook Islands, an state in
free association with New Zealand whose capacity to participate in international
organizations has been recognized by the United Nations Secretariat; and two
states with limited recognition, Kosovo and Taiwan.
There are also nine dependent territories with NOCs:
Four territories of the United States: American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and
the United States Virgin Islands. Three British Overseas Territories:
Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and Cayman Islands.
One territory from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean: Aruba. The
Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee was dissolved at the 123rd IOC session
in July 2011 as the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist on 10 October 2010.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China.
Prior to 1996, rules for recognising separate countries within the IOC were
not as strict as those within the United Nations, which allowed these territories
to field teams separately from their sovereign state. Following an amendment
to the Olympic Charter in 1996, NOC recognition can only be granted after
recognition as an independent state by the international community. Since the
rule does not apply retroactively, the dependent territories which were
recognised before the rule change are allowed to continue sending separate
teams to the Olympics, while the Faroe Islands and Macau send their own
Paralympic teams. The states which thus qualify to
participate in the future are the Vatican City, a UN observer state, and
Niue, a state in free association with New Zealand like the Cook Islands. Other
disputed states face obstacles to being recognized by the IOC. Dependent
territories such as Curaçao, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Macau and New
Caledonia can no longer be recognised by the IOC. Athletes from those territories
can only participate in the Olympics as part of their parent nation's national
team. Divisions
The NOCs are all members of the Association of National Olympic
Committees, which is also split among five continental associations:
See the article for each continental association for the complete lists of
all NOCs. List of NOCs by recognition date
Below is a chronological list of the 206 NOCs recognized by the International
Olympic Committee, since its foundation in 1894. Many of these committees were
founded many years before their official recognition, while others were
immediately accepted after being founded.
Only extant states are listed. Former states, are not listed, only the current
states derived from them. = Notes =
Unrecognized National Olympic Committees The Macau Sports and Olympic Committee
was founded in 1987 and has attempted to enroll to the IOC since its foundation,
but is still not officially recognized and thus no athlete has participated in
the Olympic Games under the name "Macau, China". It has, however, participated in
the Paralympic Games. The Faroe Islands have a recognised National Paralympic
Committee. Other existing countries/regions with
unrecognized Olympic committees: Catalonia, Gibraltar, French
Polynesia,Niue, Somaliland, New Caledonia, Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus,
Abkhazia, Native Americans, the Northern Mariana Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat,
and Turks & Caicos Islands.South Ossetia intends to establish a National Olympic
Committee too. Representatives from the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic would take
part in Armenia’s National Olympic Committee.
See also National Paralympic Committee
List of IOC country codes District of Columbia Olympic Committee
References "National Olympic Committees".
International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
Association of National Olympic Committees website