Tokyo Olympics: CIV, KOS and other country acronyms you might not recognise

An alphabetical guide to the national codes being used in Tokyo

People around the world have been struggling out of bed early this week, bleary-eyed, clinging to cups of coffee and scrambling haplessly in the dark in search of the TV remote to catch the latest action from the Tokyo Olympics.

There’s nothing worse than having made all that effort to claw your way out from under the duvet and master the tournament’s chaotic events schedule, only to be confounded by the International Olympic Committee’s tricksy approach to country abbreviations.

All 206 participating nations have been handed a three-letter designation, not all of which are as self-evident as you might hope.

BER for Bermuda and KOS for Kosovo make sense but, rather than RUS, Russia is known as ROC this time around - denoting Russian Olympic Committee - in response to the country’s official ban as a result of 2019 doping scandal that rocked the world of athletics, which nevertheless does not prohibit all Russian athletes from competing.

So, if you’re baffled by who’s representing where in the big women’s judo clash between UZB and CPV this afternoon, the following alphabetical list should help.

AFG Afghanistan

ALB Albania

ALG Algeria

AND Andorra

ANG Angola

ANT Antigua and Barbuda

ARG Argentina

ARM Armenia

ARU Aruba

ASA American Samoa

AUS Australia

AUT Austria

AZE Azerbaijan

BAH Bahamas

BAN Bangladesh

BAR Barbados

BDI Burundi

BEL Belgium

BEN Benin

BER Bermuda

BHU Bhutan

BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina

BIZ Belize

BLR Belarus

BOL Bolivia

BOT Botswana

BRA Brazil

BRN Bahrain

BRU Brunei

BUL Bulgaria

BUR Burkina Faso

CAF Central African Republic

CAM Cambodia

CAN Canada

CAY Cayman Islands

CGO Republic of the Congo

CHA Chad

CHI Chile

CHN China

CIV Ivory Coast

CMR Cameroon

COD Democratic Republic of the Congo

COK Cook Islands

COL Colombia

COM Comoros

CPV Cape Verde

CRC Costa Rica

CRO Croatia

CUB Cuba

CYP Cyprus

CZE Czech Republic

DEN Denmark

DJI Djibouti

DMA Dominica

DOM Dominican Republic

ECU Ecuador

EGY Egypt

ERI Eritrea

ESA El Salvador

ESP Spain

EST Estonia

ETH Ethiopia

FIJI Fiji

FIN Finland

FRA France

FSM Federated States of Micronesia

GAB Gabon

GAM The Gambia

GBR Great Britain

GBS Guinea-Bissau

GEO Georgia

GEQ Equatorial Guinea

GER Germany

GHA Ghana

GRE Greece

GRN Grenada

GUA Guatemala

GUI Guinea

GUM Guam

GUY Guyana

HAI Haiti

HKG Hong Kong

HON Honduras

HUN Hungary

INA Indonesia

IND India

IRI Iran

IRL Ireland

IRQ Iraq

ISL Iceland

ISR Israel

ISV US Virgin Islands

ITA Italy

IVB British Virgin Islands

JAM Jamaica

JOR Jordan

JPN Japan

KAZ Kazakhstan

KEN Kenya

KGZ Kyrgyzstan

KIR Kiribati

KOR South Korea

KOS Kosovo

KSA Saudi Arabia

KUW Kuwait

LAO Laos

LAT Latvia

LBA Libya

LBN Lebanon

LBR Liberia

LCA Saint Lucia

LES Lesotho

LIE Liechtenstein

LTU Lithuania

LUX Luxembourg

MAD Madagascar

MAR Morocco

MAS Malaysia

MAW Malawi

MDA Moldova

MDV Maldives

MEX Mexico

MGL Mongolia

MHL Marshall Islands

MKD North Macedonia

MLI Mali

MLT Malta

MNE Montenegro

MON Monaco

MOZ Mozambique

MRI Mauritius

MTN Mauritania

MYA Myanmar

NAM Namibia

NCA Nicaragua

NED Netherlands

NEP Nepal

NGR Nigeria

NIG Niger

NOR Norway

NRU Nauru

NZL New Zealand

OMA Oman

PAK Pakistan

PAN Panama

PAR Paraguay

PER Peru

PHI Philippines

PLE Palestine

PLW Palau

PNG Papua New Guinea

POL Poland

POR Portugal

PRK North Korea

PUR Puerto Rico

QAT Qatar

ROU Romania

ROC Russian Olympic Committee

RSA South Africa

RWA Rwanda

SAM Samoa

SEN Senegal

SEY Seychelles

SGP Singapore

SKN Saint Kitts and Nevis

SLE Sierra Leone

SLO Slovenia

SMR San Marino

SOL Solomon Islands

SOM Somalia

SRB Serbia

SRI Sri Lanka

SSD South Sudan

STP Sao Tome and Principe

SUD Sudan

SUI Switzerland

SUR Suriname

SVK Slovakia

SWE Sweden

SWZ Eswatini

SYR Syria

TAN Tanzania

TGA Tonga

THA Thailand

TJK Tajikistan

TKM Turkmenistan

TLS East Timor

TOG Togo

TPE Taipei

TTO Trinidad and Tobago

TUN Tunisia

TUR Turkey

TUV Tuvalu

UAE United Arab Emirates

UGA Uganda

UKR Ukraine

URU Uruguay

USA United States

UZB Uzbekistan

VAN Vanuatu

VEN Venezuela

VIE Vietnam

VIN Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

YEM Yemen

ZAM Zambia

ZIM Zimbabwe