OAR, BLR, AUT, SUI: Here’s What All the Olympics Country Abbreviations Mean

From a triple lutz to a double cork, there are plenty of sports terms to know as you watch the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. But some of the most baffling expressions for many Olympics viewers have been the three-letter country abbreviations used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as designations for the dozens of countries competing. Some of them are clear (USA), but what country is meant by BLR, AUT or SUI? (As it turns out: Belarus, Austria and Switzerland.)

And then there’s OAR, the abbreviation used to describe the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Following a doping scandal, which Russia denies, Russia was not allowed to officially compete in the 2018 Olympics. Athletes from Russia, though, are still allowed to compete under the OAR designation.

Here are all the IOC country abbreviations at the 2018 Winter Olympics:

ALB – Albania

AND – Andorra

ARG – Argentina

ARM – Armenia

AUS – Australia

AUT – Austria

AZE – Azerbaijan

BEL – Belgium

BER – Bermuda

BIH – Bosnia and Herzegovina

BLR – Belarus

BOL – Bolivia

BRA – Brazil

BUL – Bulgaria

CAN – Canada

CHI – Chile

CHN – People’s Republic of China

COL – Colombia

COR – Unified Korea Team

CRO – Croatia

CYP – Cyprus

CZE – Czech Republic

DEN – Denmark

ECU – Ecuador

ERI – Eritrea

ESP – Spain

EST – Estonia

FIN – Finland

FRA – France

GBR – Great Britain

GEO – Georgia

GER – Germany

GHA – Ghana

GRE – Greece

HKG – Hong Kong, China

HUN – Hungary

IND – India

IRI – Islamic Republic of Iran

IRL – Ireland

ISL – Iceland

ISR – Israel

ITA – Italy

JAM – Jamaica

JPN – Japan

KAZ – Kazakhstan

KEN – Kenya

KGZ – Kyrgyzstan

KOR – Republic of Korea (South Korea)

KOS – Kosovo

LAT – Latvia

LBN – Lebanon

LIE – Liechtenstein

LTU – Lithuania

LUX – Luxembourg

MAD – Madagascar

MAR – Morocco

MAS – Malaysia

MDA – Republic of Moldova

MEX – Mexico

MGL – Mongolia

MKD – The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

MLT – Malta

MNE – Montenegro

MON – Monaco

NED – Netherlands

NGR – Nigeria

NOR – Norway

NZL – New Zealand

OAR – Olympic Athlete from Russia

PAK – Pakistan

PHI – Philippines

POL – Poland

POR – Portugal

PRK – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)

PUR – Puerto Rico

ROU – Romania

RSA – South Africa

SGP – Singapore

SLO – Slovenia

SMR – San Marino

SRB – Serbia

SUI – Switzerland

SVK – Slovakia

SWE – Sweden

TGA – Tonga

THA – Thailand

TLS – Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

TOG – Togo

TPE – Chinese Taipei

TUR – Turkey

UKR – Ukraine

USA – United States of America

UZB – Uzbekistan

Correction, June 10, 2019

The original version of this story misstated in one instance the country represented by “AUT.” It is Austria, not Australia.