Unified Team At The Olympics
The Unified Team was the name used for the sports team of the former Soviet Union (except the Baltic states) at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The IOC country code was EUN, after the French name, Équipe Unifiée. The Unified Team was sometimes informally called the CIS Team (Commonwealth of Independent States), although Georgia did not join the CIS until 1993.
During the Winter Olympics, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the constituent countries had not yet been affiliated to the IOC, so the Olympic Flag was used in place of a national flag at the Opening Ceremony and at medals ceremonies, and the Olympic Hymn was played for gold medallists. By the time of the Summer Olympics, the NOCs had affiliated separately, though they fielded a joint team with a standard uniform as Olympic qualifying rounds had been completed before the final demise of the Soviet Union. Where an EUN individual won a medal, the national flag of the medallist's nation was raised rather than the Olympic flag, and a gold medallist's national anthem was played rather than the Olympic Hymn. The EUN team continued to be represented at all ceremonies by the Olympic flag and the Olympic Hymn.
At the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nations that were part of the Unified Team started to make their Olympic debuts.
While only six of the EUN countries took part in the 1992 Winter Olympics, all twelve participated in the Summer Olympics. For details of the Unified Team's participation, see:
- Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Olympics
- Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics
| Country (former Soviet republic) |
IOC code (1994–) |
|---|---|
| Armenia* | ARM |
| Azerbaijan | AZE |
| Belarus* | BLR |
| Georgia | GEO |
| Kazakhstan* | KAZ |
| Kyrgyzstan | KGZ |
| Moldova | MDA |
| Russia* | RUS |
| Tajikistan | TJK |
| Turkmenistan | TKM |
| Ukraine* | UKR |
| Uzbekistan* | UZB |
* Unified Team participant in Winter games.
Performance:
- The Unified Team finished second to Germany in the overall medal tally at Albertville with 9 golds, 6 silvers, and 8 bronzes; 23 medals in total
- The team finished first at Barcelona with 45 golds, 38 silvers, and 29 bronzes; 112 medals in total
(Note, however, that the International Olympic Committee does not officially recognise national medal totals.)
Read more about Unified Team At The Olympics: Flag Bearers
Famous quotes containing the words unified and/or team:
“Under weak government, in a wide, thinly populated country, in the struggle against the raw natural environment and with the free play of economic forces, unified social groups become the transmitters of culture.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.”
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