National Olympic Committees

The mission of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) is to develop, promote and protect the Olympic Movement in their respective countries. 

The NOCs promote the fundamental principles of Olympism at a national level within the framework of sports. NOCs are committed to the development of athletes and support the development of sport for all programmes and high performance sport in their countries. They also participate in the training of sports administrators by organising educational programmes.

Another objective of the National Olympic Committees is to ensure that athletes from their respective nations attend the Olympic Games. Only an NOC is able to select and send teams and competitors for participation in the Olympic Games.

National Olympic Committees also supervise the preliminary selection of potential bid cities. Before a candidate city can compete against those in other countries, it first must win the selection process by the NOC in its own country. The National Olympic Committee can then name that city to the IOC as a candidate to host the Olympic Games.

There are currently 204 National Olympic Committees over five continents.

List of all National Olympic Committees in IOC protocol order

Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)

The NOCs come together at least once every two years in the form of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to exchange information and experiences in order to consolidate their role within the Olympic Movement.

In this way ANOC helps the NOCs to prepare for their meetings with the IOC Executive Board and Olympic Congresses.

ANOC also makes recommendations to the IOC regarding the use of funds deriving from the television rights intended for the NOCs. These recommendations focus on the implementation of the Olympic Solidarity programmes in particular.

ANOC is currently made up of the 204 NOCs and is split among five continental associations:

Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)