It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts…

“For the loser now, Will be later to win”. I guess when Bob Dylan wrote those words 50 years ago he never for a minute thought they’d be applied to the thorny question of which country is the best at finishing last at the Winter Olympics. The answer is not particularly gratifying if you happen to come from Great Britain. The British might have had an empire on which the sun never set but the conquest of India and large parts of Africa is not ideal preparation for various forms of sliding down a mountain or skating across frozen ponds.

So how did we calculate the table below? Very simply the last place finisher in every Winter Olympic event from 1924 to 2010 is awarded a gold medal, second to last won silver and, of course, third last gets bronze. For ease of calculation we have ignored anybody not included in the final classification so if really wanted to avoid “winning a medal” all you had to do was fall, give up or get disqualified.
The results show Great Britain with quite a lead on this “reverse medal table” which I suppose is legacy of being ever present at the Winter Games without ever being a major player at the Games. Indeed it was a Briton, Cyril Horn, who in this upside down view of Olympic history became the 1st Olympic champion by finishing last in the 500m speed skating at the Chamonix games of 1924.

The rest of top ten can be divided into countries like Japan and South Korea who like Great Britain have usually elected to fill their quota of competitors without ever really expecting to dominate the competition and countries like the USA and Canada who seem to be here by sheer force of numbers.

Argentina in 6th place with 31 “golds” is comfortably the top nation in this table to have never won a medal by the usual method of accounting with Greece next best in 15th. The most successful nation in the history of the Winter Games, Norway, also proves successful in not losing. Norway’s 15 reverse golds puts them outside the top twenty in our list and subtracted from their genuine gold medal total of 107 puts them at +92 and well clear of the USSR at +74 and Germany at +71. Unfortunately for Britain this method of calculation still keeps them at the wrong end of the list with -44 ahead of Japan on -35 with Argentina moving into third on -31.

It has to be said that coming last in an event doesn’t mean that you’re in the same class at ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards and the Mexican cross-country skier who took so long to finish at the Calgary Games that a search party was sent out to look for him. Sometimes it’s just that Lady Luck looks you in the eye and then proceeds to knee you in the groin. That’s what happened to American speed skater Buddy Solem in the 10000 m at the St. Moritz Games of 1948. Halfway through the event a warm wind blew in from the south and started to melt the ice. By the time Solem finished his heat you could see waves forming on the ice each time he passed by. He finished 5 minutes behind the next slowest and nearly ten minutes behind the winner.

My advice to Britain? See what you can do to make additions to the Olympic programme. Maybe the introduction of darts on ice, snow snooker or sub-zero cricket may help drop Britain down the table. On second thoughts, let’s forget sub-zero cricket – the Australians might just prove too good at that.
[table colalign=”center|center|center|center|center|center|”]
Rank,Nation,G,S,B,Total
1, GBR, 53, 67, 43, 163
2, JPN, 44, 43, 36, 123
3, USA, 43, 60, 68, 171
4, CAN, 42, 41, 45, 128
5, KOR, 38, 32, 30, 100
6, ARG, 31, 25, 26, 82
7, CHN, 29, 39, 20, 88
8, FRA, 25, 30, 30, 85
9, AUS, 24, 15, 21, 60
10, YUG, 24, 15, 17, 56
11, ITA, 23, 33, 22, 78
12, HUN, 22, 24, 23, 69
13, BEL, 21, 6, 8, 35
14, AUT, 18, 16, 26, 60
15, GRE, 18, 15, 8, 41
16, ROU, 17, 21, 25, 63
17, GER, 17, 16, 18, 51
18, BUL, 16, 13, 7, 36
19, LAT, 16, 9, 15, 40
20, POL, 15, 24, 25, 64
21, NOR, 15, 14, 15, 44
22, UKR, 13, 17, 8, 38
23, SWE, 13, 12, 16, 41
24, RUS, 13, 11, 18, 42
25, TPE, 13, 6, 11, 30
26, SUI, 11, 17, 22, 50
27, EST, 10, 6, 5, 21
28, KAZ, 9, 12, 10, 31
29, CHI, 9, 7, 5, 21
30, MGL, 8, 11, 10, 29
31, NZL, 8, 7, 5, 20
32, LIB, 8, 6, 4, 18
33, NED, 8, 5, 14, 27
34, PRK, 8, 5, 7, 20
35, ARM, 8, 5, 2, 15
36, BLR, 8, 3, 16, 27
37, BRA, 7, 0, 5, 12
38, CZE, 6, 12, 11, 29
39, MEX, 6, 8, 7, 21
40, DEN, 6, 8, 1, 15
41, MDA, 6, 3, 4, 13
42, CYP, 6, 2, 4, 12
43, PUR, 6, 2, 4, 12
44, TCH, 5, 17, 10, 32
45, TUR, 5, 12, 6, 23
46, ESP, 5, 9, 12, 26
47, ISV, 5, 5, 3, 13
48, SVK, 5, 4, 9, 18
49, ISL, 5, 3, 6, 14
50, FIN, 4, 6, 9, 19
51, CRC, 4, 5, 3, 12
52, URS, 4, 4, 7, 15
53, LIE, 4, 3, 4, 11
54, BIH, 4, 3, 1, 8
55, IRI, 4, 2, 2, 8
56, SMR, 3, 6, 1, 10
57, FRG, 3, 5, 8, 16
58, MAR, 3, 4, 5, 12
59, HKG, 3, 2, 0, 5
60, UZB, 3, 1, 2, 6
61, IND, 3, 1, 1, 5
62, GUA, 3, 1, 0, 4
63, GDR, 3, 0, 2, 5
64, LTU, 3, 0, 2, 5
65, ALG, 3, 0, 1, 4
66, HON, 3, 0, 0, 3
67, IRL, 2, 5, 3, 10
68, CRO, 2, 4, 7, 13
69, MKD, 2, 3, 0, 5
70, AND, 2, 2, 1, 5
71, BOL, 2, 1, 1, 4
72, POR, 2, 1, 1, 4
73, KGZ, 2, 1, 0, 3
74, LUX, 2, 0, 1, 3
75, ALB, 2, 0, 0, 2
76, RSA, 1, 5, 1, 7
77, SLO, 1, 4, 6, 11
78, EUN, 1, 2, 1, 4
79, NEP, 1, 1, 1, 3
80, SCG, 1, 1, 1, 3
81, TJK, 1, 1, 1, 3
82, EGY, 1, 1, 0, 2
83, SEN, 1, 1, 0, 2
84, SRB, 1, 1, 0, 2
85, FIJ, 1, 0, 2, 3
86, AHO, 1, 0, 0, 1
87, CMR, 1, 0, 0, 1
88, KEN, 1, 0, 0, 1
89, THA, 1, 0, 0, 1
90, TTO, 1, 0, 0, 1
91, GEO, 0, 2, 4, 6
92, IVB, 0, 1, 1, 2
93, MON, 0, 1, 1, 2
94, GHA, 0, 1, 0, 1
95, GUM, 0, 1, 0, 1
96, ISR, 0, 1, 0, 1
97, PER, 0, 1, 0, 1
98, PHI, 0, 1, 0, 1
99, VEN, 0, 1, 0, 1
100, AZE, 0, 0, 1, 1
101, BER, 0, 0, 1, 1
102, ETH, 0, 0, 1, 1
103, MAD, 0, 0, 1, 1
104, PAK, 0, 0, 1, 1
[/table]

The NFL and the Olympic Games


Jim Thorpe

Tonight the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will face each other in Super Bowl XLVIII so it seems as good a time as ever to delve into the link between the National Football League and the Olympic Games. The connection goes back as far as the beginning of the NFL in 1920.
The first Olympian to play in the NFL (or the American Professional Football Association as it was then called) is still almost certainly the greatest all-round sportsman ever to grace the gridiron – the legendary Jim Thorpe. For publicity purposes Thorpe was even installed at the League’s first chairman. The link continues to this day in the shape of Tampa Bay running back Jeff Demps and Marquise Goodwin, wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills.

The only man to reach the peak of both sports is another track and field legend in the shape of “Bullet” Bob Hayes. Eight years after his triumphs at the Tokyo Olympics he was part of the victorious Dallas Cowboys team at Super Bowl VI and later followed Thorpe into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Michael Carter, shot put silver medallist in 1984 is the other Olympian to earn a Super Bowl ring – he did it just 6 months after his Olympic appearance.

Unsurprisingly the vast majority of the Olympic/NFL have been both American and have come from a track and field background but there have been a number of exceptions. Wrestling is the only other sport where multiple Olympians, including 2 gold medallists, have graduated into the NFL but the last to date left the NFL after the 1969 season.
A unique case is that of NY Giants back-up quarterback Randy Dean. He made fleeting appearances in the late 70s after having been a valuable member of the US handball team at the 1976 Games.
The only non-American to reach this list is Australian high jumper Colin Ridgway. He arrived on a college scholarship to Lamar University in Texas and was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a punter. His stint in the NFL lasted just 3 games before he was released.

Another unusual case is that of Herschel Walker, the only NFL player to have competed in the Winter Olympics. Already an established star in the NFL, Walker was a late addition to the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation’s bobsled programme for the 1992 Winter Olympics. Joining the squad only after the Minnesota Vikings had ended their season his appearance on the US roster was unpopular with many of his US teammates. Pushing for Brian Shimer he finished 7th.

Finally we should remember one man who never made it to this list. Stone Johnson was a finalist in the 200 m at the Rome Olympics and a member of the US relay team that was disqualified after crossing the line first in the final. In 1963 he was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Oakland Raiders when he sustained a broken neck. He succumbed to his injuries 10 days later. Although he never played a down in a regular-season NFL game, his number 33 was retired by the Chiefs.

Olympic gold and Super Bowl winner
“Bullet” Bob Hayes USA
1964 100m/4×100 Gold
Dallas Cowboys (1965-74) – Super Bowl winner 1972, San Francisco 49ers (1975)

Olympic medal and Super Bowl winner
Mike Carter USA
1984 Shot Put Silver
San Francisco (1984-92)

Olympic gold medal and NFL experience
Jim Bausch – Chicago Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds (1933)
Ron Brown – Los Angeles Rams (1984-90, 1991), Los Angeles Raiders (1990)
Milt Campbell – Cleveland Browns (1957)
Henry Carr – New York Giants (1965-67)

Glenn Davis – Detroit Lions (1960-61)
Sam Graddy – Denver Broncos (1987-88), Los Angeles Raiders (1990-92)
Jim Hines – Miami Dolphins (1969), Kansas City Chiefs (1970)
James Jett – Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1993-2000)
Johnny Jones – New York Jets (1980-84)
Glenn Morris – Detroit Lions (1940)
Tommie Smith – Cincinnati Bengals (1969)
Jim Thorpe – Canton Bulldogs (1920 & 1926), Cleveland Indians (1921), Oorang Indians (1922-23), Rock Island Independents (1924-25), New York Giants (1925), Chicago Cardinals (1928)
Gerald Tinker – Atlanta Falcons (1974-75), Green Bay Packers (1975)
Peter Mehringer – Chicago Cardinals (1934-36)
John Spellman – Providence Steam Rollers (1925-31), Boston Braves (1932)

For a full list of all Olympians who have played in NFL (or AFL) please visit this page

Universal participation is rare at the Winter Olympics

At the Summer Olympics, the IOC requires representatives from every continent in each sport. Even in team sports, where only between 8 and 16 teams can take part, there’s always a team from Africa, Asia, Europe,  North America, Oceania and South America represented – although in some cases the two Americas are considered a single continent (this depends on the federation that governs the sport). At the Winter Olympics though, having all six continents compete in the same competition is quite rare.

This is not very surprising. After all, winter sports are originally – and still mostly – a thing for the rich and white, preferably from nations that have snow. This was adequately reflected by the list of participants in the inaugural Winter Olympics: North America and Europe were the only continents represented. South America (Argentina) and Asia (Japan) joined the Winter Olympics in 1928. Oceania became the fifth continent in 1936 (Australia) and South Africa was the first African nation in 1960.

The first time competitors from all six continents lined up at the start for the same Winter Olympic event was in 1968. In the men’s giant slalom, 101 skiers from 33 nations took part, including 4 Moroccans providing the “rare” African Winter Olympians. The slalom, held some days later, also saw all continents represented.

Since 1968, there have regularly been alpine skiing events with all six continents represented: in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010. With the exception of 1992, all of them were men’s events. In Albertville, the women also had three events with all continents, Oceania being the least represented continent (through Australia’s Zali Steggall).

The Albertville Games also marked the first time when a different sport than alpine skiing had the honor of six continents at the start. In two men’s cross country skiing events (the 10 km  and the pursuit), this also happened. In Vancouver, the men’s 15 km was similarly universal.

In Sochi the list of sports with universal representation will not expand. Most likely, there will be some alpine skiing and cross country skiing events in which all six continents are represented (event start lists are not yet available, so we cannot be certain yet). It is not strange that this only happens for those two sports: they are the only winter sports for which any country can qualify a competitor (although they’re subject to some qualifying demands). It’s possible that in the future figure skating may join the list of competitors.  South America is represented in that sport for the first time since 1908, and South Africa (previously already represented) did competed in the 2012 Worlds.

Winter Olympic National Team – the Big and the Small

The United States has entered a team of 230 athletes for the Sochi Winter Olympics. It has been fairly well documented that this is the largest team ever for one nation at the Winter Olympics. Not as much has been written about Canada’s team for Sochi, which has 221 athletes, the second largest team ever when it was announced a few days ago.

Now, this is somewhat artificial because of the way the Winter Olympics have increased in size over the years. In 1924 at Chamonix, there were only 16 events and the first time there were more than 50 events at the Winter Olympics was at Albertville in 1992, with 57. There were 86 events at Vancouver in 2010 but Sochi will have 98 events, the largest percentage increase since 2002, when there were 78 events after 68 in Nagano in 1998 (14.7% increase) and 1964, when the Winter Olympics went from 27 events at Squaw Valley to 34 at Innsbruck (25.9% increase).

But still, it is rare to field an Olympic team with 200 or more athletes. To date, only the United States and Canada have ever fielded a Winter Olympic team with 200+ athletes. Russia’s team has just been announced and appears to be about 223 athletes, making it second only to the USA 2014 team in size, although it is not yet fully available on the Sochi 2014 website. The times that a nation has had a Winter Olympic team with 200+ competitors, or will have, are in the list below:

United States                            2014                        230

Russia                                            2014                        223

Canada                                          2014                        221

United States                            2010                        212

Canada                                          2010                        201

United States                            2006                        204

United States                            2002                        202

And on the other extreme, the following nations have had only 1 Winter Olympic competitor – ever.

Albania

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Colombia

Egypt

Ethiopia

Ghana

Guam

Honduras

Kenya

Madagascar

Montenegro

Pakistan

Swaziland

Tajikistan

Thailand

Uruguay

Of those, Albania, the British Virgin Islands, Montenegro, Pakistan, and Thailand will have competitors in Sochi and will drop off the above list.

And here are the nations that have competed at the Winter Olympics, but have not yet had a woman compete:

Albania

American Samoa

Bermuda

Bolivia

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Costa Rica

Egypt

Ethiopia

Fiji

Ghana

Guam

Jamaica

Kenya

Madagascar

Montenegro

Nepal

Netherlands Antilles

Pakistan

Philippines, The

San Marino

Senegal

Swaziland

Tajikistan

Thailand

Trinidad & Tobago

Uruguay

Thailand will have a female Alpine skiier in Sochi, the concert violinist Vanessa-Mae, who will compete as Vanessa Vanakorn. Albania and Montenegro have also entered women for the first time at the Winter Olympics.

Can Bjørndalen break the record for most starts at the Winter Olympics?

In Sochi, biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen will compete in his sixth – and probably last – Winter Olympics. While that would tie the current record for participations, it will likely be broken in Sochi by two competitors. Bjørndalen may still break another record: that for most Winter Olympic events started in. He has currently had 21 starts (20 in biathlon, 1 in cross-country skiing) and can break the Olympic record of 25 by competing in all five men’s biathlon events in Sochi. Given his results this season, this is quite likely to happen. Other athletes who competed in Vancouver and have earned 21 starts, Oksana Yatskaya and Ilmārs Bricis are not expected to start in Sochi, although Yatskaya has been active this season.

The current record is held by a not-so-famous athlete, although she became Olympic champion in 2002. Cross country skier Gabriella Paruzzi (Italy) has competed in five Olympic events at five Olympic Games, 1992 through 2006. At each of these Games, she won a medal. She won four bronzes with the Italian relay team, and an individual gold. That came in the 2002 30 km race, although she was only awarded the medal almost two years later, as Larisa Lazutina was finally scratched from the record books due to an out-of-competition doping violation. Paruzzi’s teammate and contemporary, Stefania Belmondo is second on the list of most events started in, with 22. She was more successful than her compatriot though, earning 10 medals including two golds (and a silver behind Paruzzi in the 2002 30 km).

Looking at the top ten of most Winter Olympic starts, it is not a surprise there are a lot of cross-country skiers there. The sport has had a large number of events for many years, allowing competitors with long careers to make many starts. Biathlon, which has grown from three to five events per Olympics, is now allowing the same. Speed skating also has six events, but as we have seen starters in all Olympic speed skating events have become rare in recent years. The top 10 of most Olympic starts is:

[table]

#,Athlete,Country,Sport,Years,Starts

1,Gabriella Paruzzi,ITA,cross country skiing,1992-2006,25

2,Stefania Belmondo,ITA,cross country skiing,1988-2002,22

3,Oksana Yatskaya,KAZ,cross country skiing,1998-2010,21
3,Harri Kirvesniemi,FIN,cross country skiing,1980-1998,21
3,Ole Einar Bjørndalen,NOR,biathlon & cross country skiing,1994-2010,21
3,Ilmārs Bricis,LAT,biathlon,1992-2010,21
7,Kjetil André Aamodt,NOR,alpine skiing,1992-2006,20
7,Kateřina Neumannová,CZE,cross country skiing,1992-2006,20
7,Emese Nemeth-Hunyady,HUN&AUT,speed skating,1984-2002,20
10,Hiroyuki Imai,JPN,cross country skiing,1992-2002),19
10,Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen,FIN,cross country skiing,1976-1994),19
10,Manuela Di Centa,ITA,cross country skiing,1984-1998),19
10,Sergey Chepikov,URS&EUN&RUS,biathlon & cross country skiing,1988-2006),19[/table]

It should be pointed out that Kateřina Neumannová also competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in mountainbiking, realizing an additional, 21st, start. The married couple of Harri and Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi take the pairs title for Winter Olympic starts, with a combined total of 40.

Siblings – Same Olympics, Same Sport, Different Nations

Lyndon Sheehan and his sister, Amy Sheehan, will both compete at Sochi in freestyle halfpipe, but not for the same nation. Lyndon will represent New Zealand, while Amy skis for Australia. Apparently Olympic News Service (ONS) just announced that this is not rare, and  happened twice before at the 2010 Winter Olympics, with brothers Jan (NOR) and Tommy Schmid (SUI) in the nordic combined, and siblings Anastasia Kuzmina (SVK) and her brother, Anton Shipulin (RUS), in the biathlon. ONS missed another one from Vancouver, as the Reed Siblings, Allison (GEO), Cathy (JPN) and Chris (JPN) all participated in figure skating.

But it actually first happened back in 1960 at Squaw Valley. There František Tikal played ice hockey for Czechoslovakia, while his brother, Steve Tikal, played for Australia, and they played against each other.

Here are the siblings who have competed at the same Winter Olympics, in the same sport, but for different nations:

1960: František (TCH) / Steve (AUS) Tikal in ice hockey

1998: Hans (AUT) / Bernard (SLO) Knauß in alpine skiing

2002: Robert (CZE) / Martin (GER) Reichel in ice hockey

2010: Jan (NOR) / Tommy (SUI) Schmid in nordic combined

2010: Allison (GEO) / Cathy and Chris (JPN) Reed in figure skating

2010: Anastasia Kuzmina (SVK) / Anton Shipulin (RUS) in biathlon

But it has also happened a number of times at the Summer Olympics, as follows:

1964/1968: Fred (NED) / Tony (USA) van Dorp in water polo

1984: Carmen Ionescu (CAN) / Florenta Tacu (ROU) in athletics

1992: Katerina, Maggy (BUL) / Manuela Maleeva (SUI) in tennis

1996: Gusman (MDA) / Elmadi (KAZ) Zhabrailov in wrestling

2000: Jenny (ITA) / Jessica (NED) Gal in judo

2008: Ágnes (HUN) / Erszébet (ITA) Valkai in water polo

2008: Hilda (NED) / Sylvia (KEN) Kibet in athletics

2008: Matty (USA) / Shane (NZL) Reed in triathlon

2008: Natasa (HUN) / Stjepan (CRO) Janic in canoeing

2008/2012: Soslan (UZB) / Taymuraz (KAZ) Tigiyev in wrestling

2012: Mimi (BRN) / Almensh (BEL) Belete in athletics

In addition to the Tikals competing directly against each other, this also happened with the Van Dorps in water polo in 1964; the Reichels in ice hockey in 2002, and the Valkais in water polo in 2008. In addition, the Zhabrailovs actually had a wrestling match against each other.

UPDATE (9 July 2016): As the 2016 Olympics are dawning, the brother / sister tandem of Bernard Legat  and Violah Cheptoo Legat will also compete for different nations in Rio. Violah has made the Kenyan team in the women’s 1,500  metres. Bernard made his fifth Olympic team at the US Olympic Trials in the 5,000 metres. He competed for Kenya in 2000 and 2004 and for the United States in 2008 and 2012, and to come, in 2016..

Winter NOC Doublers

An Hyeon-Su (sometimes seen as Ahn Hyun-Soo) is one of the most successful short-track speed skaters ever, having won 5 World Championships from 2003-07, and winning 4 medals, including 3 golds, at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. He will compete at Sochi in 2014, but if you try to find him under that name, good luck.

He is now Viktor Ahn, and competes for Russia, and will be on the Russian team in Sochi, having started competing there in 2011, and recently achieving Russian citizenship.

At Sochi, Chris Spring will compete in bobsledding for Canada, after appearing for Australia at Vancouver. Anthony Lobello is on the 2014 Italian short-track speed skating team but in 2006 he competed in that sport for the United States. Vic Wild, an American snowboarder who married Russian snowboarder Alena Zavarzina, will compete for Russia in Sochi, having obtained Russian citizenship in 2011. And Petr Nedvěd will skate in ice hockey for the land of his birth, the Czech Republic, 20 years after skating for Canada at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

These are but a few of many examples of the athletic diaspora that has taken place over the last 20 years or so, especially since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Athletes often compete for nations other than the one in which they have lived and grown up. Ofttimes, it is a nation in which they were born, but did not live there long.

Another example this year is the case of Gary di Silvestri and his wife Angelica Morrone di Silvestri, who will compete in cross-country skiing for Dominica. Part of the group often called Olympic tourists, who have no chance for a medal, the di Silvestris became acquainted with Dominica while vacationing there, and when they decided they wished to make an attempt to compete at the Winter Olympics, what better nation to choose than that bastion of winter sports than Dominica?

In 1994 at Lillehammer, Armenia competed for the first time at the Winter Olympics, with a 2-man bobsled team of Joe Almasian and Ken Topalian. Both were from Massachusetts in the United States, and had never set foot in Armenia, but they were of Armenian descent and after learning bobsled, however badly, they were allowed to compete for Armenia at Lillehammer. Both sledders have yet to visit the nation they represented at the Winter Olympics.

In all, 1,496 athletes have represented 2 or more NOCs at the Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games, with 280 of these coming at the Winter Olympics. Most of these have been due to the split-up of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the re-unification of Germany.

In fact at the Winter Olympics, only 27 times have athletes represented what we term DDNs (distinctly different nations), and only once has this has occurred more than one time for any set of DDNs. This was the case of the Tlałka-Mogore twin sisters, Dorota and Małgorzata, who both competed in Alpine skiing in 1984-88 for Poland (1984) and France (1988).

The other combinations of related nations are obvious – 50 athletes competed for both the Unified Team and Russia, and 43 for both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, and for Germany and the former West Germany (FRG).

Among DDNs, Canada has had 5 different athletes compete for it and another nation (5 different nations), while Switzerland and Austria have had this occur 4 times each. At Sochi, Viktor Ahn will become the first Korea / Russia mix.

Below we list all the Winter Olympic occurrences of athletes competing for 2 or more NOCs.

 

NOCMix                                                                                                     ###

Unified Team / Russia                                                                           50

Czech Republic / Czechoslovakia                                                 43

Fed. Rep. Germany / Germany                                                        43

German Demo. Rep. / Germany                                                     28

Unified Team / Soviet Union                                                            13

Slovakia / Czechoslovakia                                                                   9

Unified Team / Russia / Soviet Union                                            8

Bosnia & Herzegovina / Yugoslavia                                               8

Russia / Soviet Union                                                                             6

Unified Team / Kazakhstan                                                                5

Slovenia / Yugoslavia                                                                             5

Unified Team / Ukraine                                                                        4

Belarus / Russia                                                                                        3

Latvia / Soviet Union                                                                             3

Serbia & Montenegro / Serbia                                                         3

Belarus / Unified Team / Soviet Union                                        2

Belarus / Unified Team                                                                         2

Belarus / Ukraine                                                                                     2

France / Poland                                                                                         2

Austria / Unified Team / Russia                                                       1

Belarus / Russia / Soviet Union                                                       1

Unified Team / Kazakhstan / Russia                                            1

Unified Team / Kazakhstan / Soviet Union                             1

Unified Team / Ukraine / Soviet Union                                      1

Armenia / Belarus                                                                                  1

Australia / Russia                                                                                   1

Austria / Bulgaria                                                                                   1

Austria / Germany                                                                                 1

Austria / Hungary                                                                                  1

Azerbaijan / Unified Team                                                                1

Azerbaijan / Russia                                                                                1

Belgium / Netherlands, The                                                              1

Belarus / Kazakhstan                                                                           1

Canada / Czech Republic                                                                   1

Canada / Finland                                                                                     1

Canada / Jamaica                                                                                    1

Canada / Russia                                                                                       1

Canada / United States                                                                       1

Croatia / Yugoslavia                                                                              1

Spain / Germany                                                                                      1

Estonia / Great Britain                                                                         1

Estonia / Soviet Union                                                                          1

Unified Team / Uzbekistan                                                                1

France / Hungary                                                                                    1

France / Korea (South)                                                                        1

France / Netherlands, The                                                                1

German Democratic Republic / Switzerland                         1

Germany / Ukraine                                                                                1

Hungary / Romania                                                                              1

Italy / Russia                                                                                             1

Japan / United States                                                                         1

Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan                                                                 1

Latvia / Russia                                                                                         1

Lithuania / Soviet Union                                                                   1

Moldova / Romania                                                                              1

Moldova / Switzerland                                                                      1

Norway / Switzerland                                                                        1

Russia / Switzerland                                                                           1

Serbia & Montenegro / Yugoslavia                                            1

Sweden / United States                                                                    1

Totals                                                                                                     280