Sochi 2014 Competing Nations

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

Which Countries have been confirmed as participants, and how many Athletes for the Countries?

[ofan]

Check Wikipedia

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

Yeah, I am just starting a discussion.

[Sir Rols]

I think Russia's qualified in a few events.

[intoronto]

Ill update when I get home.

[micheal_warren]

Just a few I would think!

[baron-pierreIV]

Tony, it's I believe 82 this year. With primarily the cold region countries.

Iran, Iraq, 3 stans (Afgha-, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan) (but like who needs them?) appear not to be participating, but the tropical Philippines is sending one male figure skater.

[intoronto]

Here is the list

Since I last updated Algeria and Nepal have entered qualification status. So we are at 86. Malta, Timor Leste, Bermuda and Tajkistan are all well under the list but their athletes need to hit 5 races before qualifying officially. So we are at 90.

[StefanMUC]

Timor Leste??? Did they import someone like the Maltese?

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

Ok Thankyou for the updates. Obviously Russia will send the most as Host Nation.

[intoronto]

Timor Leste??? Did they import someone like the Maltese?

Yup. He is French with some sort of connection to Timore Leste

Ok Thankyou for the updates. Obviously Russia will send the most as Host Nation.

Not necessarily true. Canada or Italy didn't have the largest teams. Projections have Canada and USA having larger teams in Sochi.

[Ikarus360]

Looks like we're going to miss the WOG again like in Vancouver too bad. It's sad to see my national team has not qualified again after three years in a row (Nagano, SLC and Torino) which means the media, like in 2010, is pretty much not going to cover anything of the games, so i'll have to watch them via stream again *sighs*

[intoronto]

Looks like we're going to miss the WOG again like in Vancouver too bad. It's sad to see my national team has not qualified again after three years in a row (Nagano, SLC and Torino) which means the media, like in 2010, is pretty much not going to cover anything of the games, so i'll have to watch them via stream again *sighs*

There are two athletes very close to qualification!

[Ikarus360]

There are two athletes very close to qualification!

Oh, I didn't knew that (sorry, the lack of info about the WOG here is annoying so we don't know much about their progress)

[Durban Sandshark]

Apparently and sadly South Africa is not going to send any Winter Olympians this year after making its debut in 1994. I'd say sad because SA is the obviously the most industrialized, strongest, organized, and economically capable African nation in the Winter Olympics. Maybe some issues and investment problems here and there with NOCSA but in South Africa, it's likely not a priority. None of its athletes apparently qualified. Not expecting the South African hockey team making it but like a skater or a skiier could do it. In fact, all but two of the six nations that participated in Vancouver but won't appear in Sochi come from Africa, even with South Africa being involved with Russia with the BRICS coalition. Wonder when it would be time down the road to devise a pan-African winter sports facility like Australia has with Melbourne's Icehouse

I also strongly believe the lack of African Olympians this time--save for Zimbabwe, Togo, Algeria, and Morocco--causes SABC and Supersport not to be as gung-ho with this Winter Olympica across Sub-Saharan Africa and scaling back massively the potential Sochi media coverage down there. That would be terrible if there's none for Africa since Africa has been getting Winter Olympics coverage since Nagano 1998.

[intoronto]

Apparently and sadly South Africa is not going to send any Winter Olympians this year after making its debut in 1994. I'd say sad because SA is the obviously the most industrialized, strongest, organized, and economically capable African nation in the Winter Olympics. Maybe some issues and investment problems here and there with NOCSA but in South Africa, it's likely not a priority. None of its athletes apparently qualified. Not expecting the South African hockey team making it but like a skater or a skiier could do it. In fact, all but two of the six nations that participated in Vancouver but won't appear in Sochi come from Africa, even with South Africa being involved with Russia with the BRICS coalition. Wonder when it would be time down the road to devise a pan-African winter sports facility like Australia has with Melbourne's Icehouse

I also strongly believe the lack of African Olympians this time--save for Zimbabwe, Togo, Algeria, and Morocco--causes SABC and Supersport not to be as gung-ho with this Winter Olympica across Sub-Saharan Africa and scaling back massively the potential Sochi media coverage down there. That would be terrible if there's none for Africa since Africa has been getting Winter Olympics coverage since Nagano 1998.

There is coverage I think I read an article earlier today. Also South Africa's athlete needs one more good result and he qualifies.

[Durban Sandshark]

There is coverage I think I read an article earlier today. Also South Africa's athlete needs one more good result and he qualifies.

Where'd you find it? It's OK if it's just one South African Olympian marching in Sochi.

[intoronto]

Where'd you find it? It's OK if it's just one South African Olympian marching in Sochi.

Sive Spleeman who was South Africa's only representative in Innsbruck as well, currently has 144 FIS points. He need to score at worst 123 FIS Points (which he has done in two earlier races) in any race remaining to qualify.

[Tatsh]

Ok Thankyou for the updates. Obviously Russia will send the most as Host Nation.

In Torino 2006, while Italy's team had 184 athletes, the USA delegation send 211.

[krow]

look at all these obscure caribbean nations!

• Bermuda (1)
• British Virgin Islands (1)
• Cayman Islands (1)

just in case you were under the mistaken, but incredibly inspiring belief that a native islander somehow picked up skiing, traveled to europe to pursue a dream, defied the odds and qualified for the olympics a la cool runnings - like i was for about ten seconds during the vancouver parade of nations - i took the liberty of finding their bios. this is going to be good.

Tucker Murphy (born October 21, 1981) is a Bermudian cross-country skier who has competed since 2006. He finished 88th in the 15 km event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He studied at Merton College, Oxford

according to wikipedia, merton is one of the wealthiest colleges in the world. sounds fancy! oh but - much like the life of gay teens these days - it gets better.

Dow Travers (born July 8, 1987) is a Caymanian alpine skier and rugby union player who competes in giant slalom and Rugby XVs and 7s.^[3] He represented the Cayman Islands in alpine skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics, becoming the Cayman Islands' first Winter Olympian.^[4][5][6] Travers, who is the son of Anthony Travers, was born and raised in Grand Cayman,^[8] where he attended Faulkner's Academy. He later went to boarding school at Harrow School in London, United Kingdom, and is currently attending Brown University which he represents for rugby and skiing.

anthony travers, for the record, is an OBE who was chairman of the board of cayman islands finance and a sr partner in an international law firm. no biggie. dow travers reminds me of amory blaine - "The Blaines were attached to no city. They were the Blaines of Lake Geneva; they had quite enough relatives to serve in place of friends, and an enviable standing from Pasadena to Cape Cod" - but with a slightly more involved father. (tony e., get off gamesbids and read a book).

the last athlete, peter adam crook, hasn't had daddy hire a pricey PR firm to write a wikipedia bio for him yet, so details are sketchy. he is raising money online to go to sochi, which dow travers and tucker murphy will surely remark over a bottle of veuve clicquot the day before the opening ceremony, is soo bourgeois. here's his bio in his own words:

I first began skiing when my family made the move to Wisconsin in 2001. In my middle school we would have ski days for gym class where we would spend the whole day at the local ski hill. This would happen about once a month if I remember correctly. I began to really enjoy skiing and I did it with all of my friends in Wisconsin. When I began high school my parents let me go and look at a ski academy in Crested Butte, CO to further my skiing abilities. I went to school in Crested Butte for half of a year and the next year I made the move to the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy where I finished out my high school career. While attending these academies we would ski 5 to six days a week in the morning, and I would then attend classes in the afternoon. My school was more lenient for days missed while traveling for competitions. This made it a great way to attend school while being able to train and compete in skiing at the same time throughout the school year.

so, driven kid with upper middle class parents? five bedroom mcmansion but in wisconsin? volkswagon jetta-types? could be worse. i kinda like him. and i think he's cute. unlike the other two opportunists, i think the people of the BVI should actually be a little proud of him. yes, like dow and tucker he opportunistically started a skiing federation out of self interest because it was easier than trying to qualify under a bigger federation, but. uhm. well. he's driven. and um. he's cute.

anne abernathy - who i'm guessing is the US virgin islands athlete - is like 53. white as snow but not as fun to make fun of as dow "my daddy called prince albert for my spot in the olympics because they ski together" travers. him and tucker keeping at it, really embarrassing. the 1% is so 2010.

[BTHarner]

Participants in the Olympic Games have always represented the wide array of personal circumstances. Rich and poor, royal and peasant, old and young, etc. These athletes have met the qualification standard. As far as starting federations, they aren't the first to do this and as long as the rules allow you to compete for another nation with which you have some connection, so be it. I find this less offensive than Qatar or Bahrain buying Kenyan and Ethiopian runners.

The Virgin Islands have qualified in skiing and Anne Abernathy would actually be around 60 now. I think Mexican skier Hubertus von Hohenlohe (of royal lineage) is back at age 55 and would likely be the oldest competitor in these games.