European IOC Country Codes Trivia Quiz

A major nation for Winter Olympic athletes, Austria hasn't only competed in the vast majority of Olympics, but been a host multiple times (Innsbruck in both 1964 and 1976). With only three athletes, Austria won five medals at their first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 (in cycling and swimming events). Generally, because of the Alpine terrain, Austria is much more attuned to skiing, leading their racers to take more than one hundred medals in the alpine skiing event across history.

This said, they've also racked up quite a few in summer sports such as canoeing and swimming.

A nation featured in nearly every Olympic Games event of the modern era, Switzerland not only shows, but places consistently. Because of Switzerland's mountainous terrain it, like Austria, excels not only in the Winter Olympics, but the most in alpine skiing.

In the Summer Games, Switzerland also has a tendency to succeed in the gymnastics events. The Swiss city of St. Moritz, found in the nation's east, hosted the Winter Olympics in 1928 and 1948.

First joining the Olympic Games in 1924 (since the nation achieved independence from Germany in 1918), the nation of Lithuania would quickly fold into the Soviet Union, doing so following the Second World War. This meant that Lithuania itself wouldn't win an Olympic medal until it went to Barcelona in 1992 (winning gold in discus throw and bronze in basketball).

In its first hundred years of Olympic contention, Lithuania didn't win any Winter OIympic medals.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the Olympics as an independent nation in 1992 (in Barcelona) and, in its first three decades, it was unable to secure a medal in any event. This being said, the country is more notable as a Summer Games competitor, being known for sending participants in varied athletic disciplines in addition to swimming and shooting. If considering athletes from the former Yugoslavia who would have resided in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, the nation would have gold medals in handball, boxing, and basketball.

A major contender in the Summer Olympic Games since their debut (with only one athlete) in 1900, Romania is perhaps best known for their presence in gymnastics events (in addition to rowing, canoeing, and wrestling). In that first hundred years of competition, Romania won nearly three hundred medals in the Summer Games (nine of which went to Nadia Comaneci), but only one in the Winter Games-- for bobsleigh in 1968.

In the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, Romania took the second-most amount of medals with more than fifty returning with them to Europe.

Although most of the Netherlands' medals in the twentieth century were won under Holland (and the abbreviation HOL), the country took on the NED code in 1992, just in time for the Barcelona games. Known for their competitive spirit in both cycling and swimming (which seems fitting considering the culture and geography of the country), the Dutch are actually world leaders in speed skating, earning four dozen Olympic gold medals in the sport in their first century.

The originator of the Ancient Olympics, Greece is an important nation to note in regards to the Games. A critical component of the Summer Games (appearing at each), Greece not only hosted the first modern games (in 1896), but also the 2004 games (both in Athens).

Historically, Greece has excelled in general athletics events and weightlifting. Though the country started showing at the Winter Games in 1936, Greece has generally sent a minimal number of winter athletes into the mix, finding themselves unable to place in well into the twenty-first century.

Due to Germany's political history, the nation wasn't always coded as GER. In the 1950s and 1960s the United Team of Germany went to compete under EUA while the divided West and East Germany were coded as FRG and GDR. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany reunited under GER in time for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Germany has had a storied history at the Olympics, being equally viable in both Summer and Winter Games.

They have also, notably, hosted both (in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Berlin, and Munich).

An avid participant in both the Summer and Winter Games, Bulgaria is a top country for both weightlifting events and wrestling. Though Bulgaria has appeared consistently in winter events, their medal intake has been quite low; for the hundreds won in Summer Games, they won a total of six in the Winter Games by the end of the early twenty-first century. Bulgaria's first-ever medal was won in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, a half-century after Bulgaria's debut at the first Olympics.

It was in boxing.

Much like Lithuania, Latvia was incorporated into the Soviet Union throughout most of the second half of the twentieth century. Despite this, Latvia has had a strong showing in both the Summer and Winter Games, even if excluding those technically won under Soviet Russia.

Interestingly, men's 3x3 basketball, introduced to the Olympics in Tokyo, was first won by a Latvian team; they beat Russian in the gold medal game.