National Olympic Committees (or NOCs) are the national constituents of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, they 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. As of 2008, there are 205 NOCs, representing both sovereign nations and other geographical areas. All 192 United Nations member states have National Olympic Committees, as do 13 other nations and territories: The NOCs are all members of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), which is also split among five continental associations: See the article for each continental association for the complete lists of all NOCs. [edit] List of NOCs by recognition date Below is a chronological list of the 205 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. Former states, nowadays non-extant (e.g. Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, etc.), are not listed, only the current states derived from them. | 1894 | France, United States | | 1895 | Australia, Germany, Greece, Hungary | | 1900 | Norway | | 1905 | Denmark, Great Britain | | 1906 | Belgium | | 1907 | Canada, Finland | | 1909 | Portugal | | 1910 | Egypt | | 1911 | Turkey | | 1912 | Austria, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Serbia[2], Spain, Switzerland | | 1913 | Sweden | | 1914 | Romania | | 1915 | Italy | | 1919 | New Zealand, Poland | | 1922 | Ireland | | 1923 | Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay | | 1924 | Bulgaria, Haiti | | 1927 | India | | 1929 | Philippines | | 1934 | Chile | | 1935 | Brazil, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Venezuela | | 1936 | Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Jamaica, Malta, Peru | | 1937 | Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) | | 1947 | Guatemala, Iran, Myanmar (then Burma), Panama, South Korea (designated Korea by the IOC) | | 1948 | Colombia, Guyana (then British Guiana), Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago | | 1950 | Netherlands Antilles, Thailand | | 1951 | Hong Kong, Nigeria | | 1952 | Bahamas, Ghana (then Gold Coast), Indonesia, Israel | | 1953 | Monaco | | 1954 | Costa Rica, Cuba, Ethiopia, Malaysia (then Malaya) | | 1955 | Barbados, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia | | 1956 | Honduras, Uganda | | 1957 | North Korea, Tunisia | | 1959 | Albania, Ecuador, Morocco, Nicaragua, San Marino, Sudan, Suriname | | 1960 | Chinese Taipei (then Republic of China) | | 1962 | Benin (then Dahomey), Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mongolia | | 1963 | Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire (then Ivory Coast), Jordan, Libya, Mali, Nepal, Senegal | | 1964 | Algeria, Chad, Madagascar, Niger, Congo, Sierra Leone, Zambia | | 1965 | Central African Republic, Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Togo | | 1966 | Kuwait | | 1967 | Belize (then British Honduras), Virgin Islands | | 1968 | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Tanzania | | 1970 | Paraguay | | 1972 | Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), Lesotho, Mauritius, Somalia, Swaziland | | 1974 | Papua New Guinea | | 1975 | Andorra | | 1976 | Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Gambia | | 1978 | Cyprus | | 1979 | Bahrain, Laos, Mauritania, Mozambique, People's Republic of China (founded 1952), Seychelles, Vietnam | | 1980 | Angola, Bangladesh, Botswana, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe | | 1981 | Yemen | | 1982 | British Virgin Islands, Oman | | 1983 | Bhutan, Samoa (then Western Samoa), Solomon Islands | | 1984 | Brunei, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Grenada, Rwanda, Tonga | | 1985 | Maldives | | 1986 | Aruba, Cook Islands, Guam | | 1987 | American Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vanuatu | | 1991 | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Namibia, South Africa | | 1993 | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cape Verde, Comoros, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominica, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Macedonia, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan | | 1994 | Cambodia, Nauru | | 1995 | Guinea-Bissau, Palestine | | 1997 | Micronesia | | 1999 | Eritrea, Palau | | 2003 | Kiribati, Timor-Leste | | 2006 | Marshall Islands | | 2007 | Montenegro, Tuvalu | [edit] Unrecognized National Olympic Committee Macau Sports and Olympic Committee: Founded in 1987, and has attempted to enroll to the IOC since its foundation, but still not officially recognized and thus no athlete has participated in the Olympic Games under the name "Macau, China". The Faroe Islands compete in the Paralympic Games, but have yet to participate in the Olympics themselves. Other existing NOCs unrecognized by the IOC include Catalan[3], British Gilbraltar[4], French Polynesia[5], Niue[6], Kosovo[7], Somaliland[8], New Caledonia[9], Iraqi Kurdistan [10], Abkhazia [11], Faroe Islands[12], Anguilla, Montserrat, and Turk & Caicos Islands[13] [edit] References |
