NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
DIRECTORY
page 1

This National Olympic Committee Directory consists of four pages of information about the Olympic Movement in every nation that participates in the Olympic Games. You will also find much more than Olympic material including history, politics, economics, culture -- all those forces that can have an effect upon people, sports and the Olympic Games. Forces can bring people together in sport -- or keep them apart via boycotts and wars. The Olympic Games reflects what is happening in the world at that time.

These pages list all the National Olympic Committees (NOC) that are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as of February 2008. Each page offers a different way of studying the International Olympic Movement as well as the history of sport in general.

Each page offers more information than the previous page. Page 4 has an enormous amount of information that will constantly need to be updated -- and if your computer is slow then it may take awhile to load. Once Page 4 has been completed -- it will be revised and made more efficient for your use.

I am an Olympic Games and Sport historian by training. My biography can be read here. Briefly: I am a health and physical education teacher with a BS, MAT and Ph.D/abd. I have not completed my doctoral dissertation, so I am not yet "Doctor." The "abd" above stands for "all but dissertation." My background includes a wide variety of fields including art and architecture, history, photography, psychology, business, and others.

It is important to me -- and to you -- that I remain neutral in preparing information for worldwide use. Many factors can cause a bias in the preparation of material. Knowing this can help you to be a better researcher and help you avoid such bias.

If you read about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games from an American book you will have a certain perspective, or point of view. You may find a very different version of the same events if you read a German, French or Chinese book -- assuming that you can read those languages. The more controversial a subject becomes -- the more bias you will find in different sources of information.

When studying the Olympic Games you will find that several major forces can influence events. From the first Olympics in Athens in 1896 to the current selection of host cities -- the Olympic Games are influenced by politics, economics, history, culture, bias and prejudice. For example -- if you study the taking of athletes from Israel as hostages (and their eventual death) at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games -- you will find differing accounts of what happened and different perceptions on the after-effects. Should the Games have been cancelled? Should the Germans have had more sharpshooters at the airport? Did the Germans allow or prohibit Israeli agents from assisting? What was the reaction in the Muslim world?

Keep in mind that I am American -- so I bring a certain bias from my own nationality. We -- as a nation -- are less formal than many European and Asian cultures. We are perceived as "child-like" or "immature" by some observers. Americans tend to have a "silly smile" much of the time, and are usually very friendly, informal and outgoing. Compare this to the reserved British personality, the pursed Prussian lip or the formality of Oriental society. Americans are aggresive -- they/we -- like to fight. The entire world watches -- and usually enjoys -- American television and film, much of which is action-oriented and violent. But Americans are generally conservative -- there are very few nude beaches like the ones on the French Riviera. In a nation of 300 million people, there cannot be more than a dozen adults who have had the courage to talk to their children about sex. We are also a nation of spectators with a growing obesity problem. Our professional sports of baseball, football, basketball and hockey dominate the sports pages which are filled-in with college football, basketball and some local school news. But you will rarely read about soccer -- the most popular sport in the rest of the world.

And we are rich -- always trying to make more money. Athletes who make tens of millions of dollars. We are a nation of incredible diversity that no-one on earth understands. While teaching in Germany I learned the perception of German 8th graders -- every American has a big house, 2 cars and a horse in the garage.

In a few instances I have allowed my sense of humor (that's humour for you British Commonwealth people) -- to creep into some of my comments -- usually about the English language.

Throughout my career I have been a physical education teacher, freestyle wrestler, coach, referee, graphics artist, photographer, researcher, writer, consultant, and publisher. I speak more than one language and have lived in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida and West Berlin, Germany. In preparing these pages for your research use -- I have tried to be neutral (I call it being "more Swiss than the Swiss"). I gather information from the best possible sources to be used on these pages. Rarely will a personal web page make it here -- I prefer first hand sources such as Olympic committee, government and scholarly sites. I examine all sources and links myself and only include those that I consider to be excellent. This is my opinion -- you might disagree. If you do disagree -- then you owe me a tin of chocolate cookies.

If you wish to contact me -- send an email to this address:

Page 2 - NOC Directory - Alphabetical List in English, with abreviations.

This page is a simple list that includes all NOC's in alphabetical order in ENGLISH. If you find similar lists elsewhere on the web they might be listed in order according to the FRENCH spelling of the nation. The International Olympic Committee uses both English and French as their official languages. On this website I am using English.
For centuries French was used an an international language for politics and diplomacy but was surpassed by English in the twentieth century after the rise of the United States as a world power. The rivalry between the two languages has existed for centuries because of historical antagonism between France and England (British Empire) , their colonies and their royal families. Americans speak a slightly different form of English commonly referred to as American English while the British Empire speaks the Queen's English. If you look at websites that have English translations you will find most of the world uses the British flag rather than the American flag. Why? Good question. It may -- or may not -- be related to a reaction to American power and influence. It may -- or may not -- be related to the historical teaching of English classes through textbooks from Great Britain rather than the USA. My own point of view -- very personal and very biased -- everyone outside of my hometown -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- speaks English with a funny accent.

Page 3 - NOC Directory - NOC's by Continental Association.

This page has five sections that list the NOC's in each continental association. This is useful if you are studying regional sports and regional celebrations such as the Asian Games or Pan-American Games.

Page 4 - NOC Directory - NOC Addresses and contact information.

This page is huge -- all NOC's are listed here with complete details that include addresses, contact information, history, links and more. Eventually this page will be revised to make each individual NOC a seperate link that will include maps and links with further information. This will be part of the IISOH on-line website when the Library is constructed and begins operation.

My other NOC pages....
Page 1 - NOC Directory - Introduction and How to Use the Directory. (You are here now).
Page 2 - NOC Directory - Alphabetical List in English, with abreviations.
Page 3 - NOC Directory - NOC's by Continental Association.
Page 4 - NOC Directory - NOC Addresses and contact information.