Flags of Identity: How the Olympics Go Beyond UN Nationhood

At a glance:

• In these Olympic Games, we had 13 “entities”, that participate in the Games but are not fully recognised as sovereign states.

• The International Olympic Committee currently recognises 206 “states”, which have their own individual National Olympic Committees (NOC).

• Competing in the Olympic Games is more of a matter of NOC creation.

As the summer of 2024 came to an end, so did the 32nd Summer Olympic Games, in Paris. If you took a closer look at the opening and closing ceremony, amid the dazzling lights of the streets of Paris, the Seine and the iconic Eiffel Tower, you may have noticed flags being flown, from countries that are not officially recognised by the United Nations (UN).

To understand why this is happens - let’s first visit the both the governing body of the Olympic Games as well as the UN itself, and explore their members.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), is the sport’s governing body of the modern Olympic Games, as set up by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas in 1894. It currently recognises 206 “states”, which have their own individual National Olympic Committees (NOC).

The United Nations (UN) is the world's largest international organization focused on maintaining global peace and security, fostering friendly relations among nations, promoting international cooperation, and coordinating actions among its member states, established after WWII. The UN, welcomes “all worlds undisputed independent states” and as of 2024, it consists of 193 full member states.

In these Olympic Games, we had 13 “entities”, that participate in the Games but are not fully recognised as sovereign states, or UN members. Many of these are territories, or regions with some degree of self-governance, or partial recognition from some countries, allowing them to set up their own NOC. Others are partially recognized states, that have gained enough international recognition to be participating, even if they are still not full UN members.

The IOC currently includes, 193 UN member states, 1 UN observer state, two states with no UN recognition and 10 territories or dependencies.

1.        Partially Recognised States

First we have NOCs, that are not universally recognised as independent states, but have some recognition that allows them to participate in the Olympics.

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (Chinese Taipei): Taiwan, competes under “Chinese Taipei”, and an Olympic flag instead of their own following a decision by the IOC in 1981. This is due to the dispute between the island and mainland China, this arrangement has been made.

Palestine, is the second partially recognized state. In the UN it has an “observer” status, however it has had its own NOC recognized by the IOC since 1993. Its currently recognized by over 140 UN nations.

The last partially recognized state is Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and is recognized by over 100 countries but not universally recognized by all UN member states (e.g., Serbia, Russia). In 2014, it got recognised as a full member of the IOC despite the disagreement from Serbia.

2.        Special Administrative Regions

Hong Kong, is a special administrative region of China. Despite being part of China, Hong Kong competes separately in the Olympics due to this status. Even before the handover from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong competed in the Olympic Games as a colony, under its own name.

Macau also has its own NOC, under the same status, but has not competed independently in the Olympics. The NOC, is used for athletes to compete in the Asian Games.

3.        Territories or Dependencies

The rest of the entities, are considered territories or dependencies of other countries. American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico all have the status of Unincorporated territory of the United States. Despite their affiliation to the USA, they are competing individually in Olympics.

The British overseas territories of Bermuda, British Virigin Islands and the Cayman Islands all also compete individually in the Olympic Games.

Finally, Arbua is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Cook Islands are a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand, both also competing in the Olympic Games as their own entity.

But how did many non-sovereign states gain IOC recognition? This mainly was the case post-WWII where after two cancelled Olympics, the IOC was desperately looking for participants to compete in the 1948 London Olympics.

Today, the criteria for determining whether an entity is considered self-governing or independent vary significantly. For example, Team GB comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (the latter not being part of Great Britain but rather part of the United Kingdom), and it competes under the British Olympic Association (the NOC for the UK). In contrast, the Faroe Islands, a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, do not have their own NOC. However, they compete in major sports organizations such as FIFA and the Paralympic Games.

At the end of the day, competing in the Olympic Games is more of a matter of NOC creation rather that sovereignty itself, but being a UN member state – almost always guarantees a position in the Olympic Games.