Flagbearers for each of the participating nations at the I Olympic Winter Games (1924) recite the athlete's oath.
This is a list of nations, as represented by National Olympic Committees (NOCs), that have participated in the Winter Olympic Games between 1924 and 2014. The Winter Olympic Games have been held every four years (once during each Olympiad) since 1924, except for the cancelled Games of 1940 and 1944, and in 1994 when the Winter Games were moved to the middle of the Olympiad, two years after the previous Games. 119 NOCs (110 of the current 204 NOCs and 9 obsolete NOCs) have participated in at least one Winter Games, and twelve nations (Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States) have participated in all twenty-two Winter Games to date. Including continuity from Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also been represented in every edition.
The post-Cold War events of the early 1990s led to a large increase in participating nations at the Olympics. At the 1992 Games, in Albertville, France, a total of 64 NOCs were represented, including a single Germany team—following the German reunification in 1990—and a Unified Team composed of six of the ex-republics of the Soviet Union.[21] The Baltic states competed independently for the first time since 1936, and some of the ex-Yugoslav nations started to compete independently in 1992.
In October 1986, the IOC had voted to hold the Olympic Winter Games half-way through the four-year Olympiad, rather than in the same year as the summer Games,[22] and this change started with the XVIIth Olympic Winter Games in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. A total of 67 nations took part, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia as independent teams, and each of the ex-Soviet nations.[23]
This list includes 119 NOCs (110 of the current 204 NOCs and 9 obsolete NOCs),[29] arranged alphabetically. The three-letter country code is also listed for each NOC. Since the 1960s, these codes have been frequently used by the IOC and each Games organizing committee to identify NOCs, such as within the official report of each Games.[30]
Several nations have changed during their Olympic history; these are explained by footnotes linked within the table itself. Name changes due to geographical renaming are explained by footnotes after the nation's name, and other changes are explained by links within the table itself. A select number of historical nations are also included in the table to more clearly illustrate past Olympic appearances for their successor nations:
Soviet Union — competed as Unified Team at the 1992 Games, now represented by fifteen successor NOCs, fourteen of which have competed in the Winter Games
^Costa Rica did not take part in the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics, but its athletes did compete; 78 nations participated in the 2002 Games, however the IOC web site states that 77 nations participated, probably erroneously not counting Costa Rica.[37]
^India's athletes originally competed as Independent Olympic Participants and marched under the Olympic Flag during the opening ceremony due to the Indian Olympic Association's suspension. On February 11, the Indian Olympic Association was reinstated and India's athletes were allowed the option to compete under their own flag from that that time onward.[38]
^"Decisions taken by the Technical Congress at Prague"(PDF). Official Bulletin of the International Olympic Committee (PDF) (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee) (1): p. 17. January 1926. Retrieved 2008-03-24.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^(ed.) Carl Diem (January 1940). "The Fifth Olympic Winter Games Will Not Be Held"(PDF). Olympic Review (PDF) (Berlin: International Olympic Institute) (8): pp. 8–10. Retrieved 2008-03-24.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^ ab(ed.) Berlioux, Monique (July–August 1975). "The Federal Republic of Germany and Olympism"(PDF). Olympic Review (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee) (93–94): pp. 290–306. Retrieved 2008-02-08.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^(ed.) Gafner, Raymond (November–December 1986). "Decisions of the 91st IOC Session"(PDF). Olympic Review (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee) (229–230): p. 651. Retrieved 2008-03-31.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^ ab(ed.) Shinano Mainichi Shimbun (1998). "Volume Three Competition Results and Participants". The XVIII Olympic Winter Games Official Report(PDF). The Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998. p. 12. ISBN4-7840-9827-5. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
^Mallon, Bill; Karlsson, Ove (May 2004). "IOC and OCOG Abbreviations for NOCs"(PDF). Journal of Olympic History12 (2): pp. 25–28. Retrieved 2008-02-08.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^(ed.) Berlioux, Monique (September–October 1975). "The German Democratic Republic and Olympism"(PDF). Olympic Review (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee) (95–96): pp. 362–377. Retrieved 2008-03-13.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)
^(ed.) Berlioux, Monique (August–September 1983). "China and Olympism"(PDF). Olympic Review (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee) (190–191): pp. 583–592. Retrieved 2008-02-08.CS1 maint: Extra text (link)