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Unified Team at the Olympics

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This article is about the "Unified Team" that competed in the 1992 Winter and Summer Olympics. For the "Unified Team" that competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympics, see United Team of Germany. For the Unified Korean Team, see Korea at the Olympics.
Unified Team at the
Olympics
The Olympic flag
IOC codeEUN
Medals
Ranked 27th
Gold
54
Silver
44
Bronze
37
Total
135
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
Other related appearances
 Russian Empire (1900–1912)
 Estonia (1920–1936, 1992–)
 Latvia (1924–1936, 1992–)
 Lithuania (1924–1928, 1992–)
 Soviet Union (1952–1988)
 Armenia (1994–)
 Belarus (1994–)
 Georgia (1994–)
 Kazakhstan (1994–)
 Kyrgyzstan (1994–)
 Moldova (1994–)
 Russia (1994–2016)
 Ukraine (1994–)
 Uzbekistan (1994–)
 Azerbaijan (1996–)
 Tajikistan (1996–)
 Turkmenistan (1996–)
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (2018)
 ROC (2020–2022)
 Individual Neutral Athletes (2024)

The Unified Team (Russian: Объединённая команда) 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.[1] 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, as a counterpart of CIS national football team taking part in Euro 1992 of the same year), although Georgia did not join the CIS until 1993.

The team finished second in the medal table at the 1992 Winter Games, and first at the 1992 Summer Games, edging its old rival the US in the latter.

Ceremony procedures

At the 1992 Winter Olympics, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the constituent countries had not yet been affiliated to the IOC due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union having only taken place little more than two months prior. During the opening ceremony, the team's placard displayed Équipe unifiée in large print, with the names of the five participating countries displayed in smaller print below, and both the French and English announcers announced only the names of the participating countries without announcing the name "Unified Team". Russian flagbearer Valeriy Medvedtsev followed, carrying the Olympic Flag, followed by the team's athletes in no particular order, each carrying a small flag representing their individual country.[2] At medals ceremonies, the Olympic Flag was used and the Olympic Hymn was played for gold medalists.

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. During the opening ceremony, the team's four-sided placard displayed "Unified Team" in the four official languages (French, English, Spanish, and Catalan), followed by Russian flagbearer Aleksandr Karelin carrying the Olympic Flag, followed by three more four-sided placards displaying the 12 constituent countries in English, followed by 12 flagbearers carrying the national flags of the 12 countries, followed by the athletes in no particular order. The announcers announced the name "Unified Team" in multiple languages, followed by the Spanish announcer announcing all 12 countries.[3] During medals ceremonies, where an EUN individual won a medal, the national flag of the medalist's nation was raised rather than the Olympic flag, and a gold medalist's national anthem was played rather than the Olympic Hymn. In team events, the EUN team continued to use the Olympic flag and the Olympic Hymn, as team members represented different nations.[4]

Participating countries

While only five of the EUN countries took part in the 1992 Winter Olympics, all twelve participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics. 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 as independent countries.

The Unified Team's participating countries in the Summer games and the IOC codes used by them in subsequent 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 the Winter Olympic Games.

Timeline of participation

Date Team
1900–1912  Russian Empire (RU1)
1920  Estonia (EST)
1924–1936  Latvia (LAT)  Lithuania (LTU)
1952–1988  Soviet Union (URS)
1992  Estonia (EST)  Latvia (LAT)  Lithuania (LTU)  Unified Team (EUN)
1994  Russia (RUS)  Armenia (ARM),  Belarus (BLR),  Georgia (GEO),  Kazakhstan (KAZ),  Kyrgyzstan (KGZ),  Moldova (MDA),  Ukraine (UKR),  Uzbekistan (UZB)
1996–2016  Azerbaijan (AZE),  Tajikistan (TJK),  Turkmenistan (TKM)
2018  Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)
2020–2022 Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)

Medal tables

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table

Flag bearers

See also

References

  1. ^ "Olympedia, Unified team (EUN)". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  2. ^ "1992 Olympics Opening Ceremony Albertville Part 2". YouTube.
  3. ^ "Barcelona 1992 Opening Ceremony - Full Length | Barcelona 1992 Replays". YouTube.
  4. ^ "The Role of Sports in the Soviet Union | Guided History".
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