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.
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.
Ceremonies 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]
By the time of the 1992 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, all 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][5][6]
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
* Unified Team participant in the Winter Olympic Games.
** Kyrgyzstan paraded under its former name Kirghizia, and Turkmenistan paraded under its former name Turkmenia.
