Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

These are the largest teams competing at the Winter Olympics

The team from the United States arrives during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing.
David J. Phillip
/
AP
The team from the United States arrives during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing.

More than 220 athletes will represent the United States at the Olympics in Beijing, making it the largest delegation at the Games, according to data from the International Olympic Committee as of Friday morning ET.

The U.S. brings a total of 224 athletes. Canada follows with the second-largest delegation at 217 athletes. The Russian Olympic Committee, known as the "ROC," rounds at the top three largest delegations, with 214 athletes.

National Olympic committees are groups officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee. And not all committees are countries.

Following a doping scandal, Russia was banned from competing in the Olympics in 2017. But Russian athletes can still compete under the neutral Olympic committee.

Host country China brings 173 Olympians to the Games, and Switzerland's delegation is the fifth-largest with 166 athletes, according to the latest IOC numbers.

Germany, Japan, Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic are also among the largest delegations at the Games.

More than 50 committees are bringing fewer than 10 athletes. This year, two athletes will compete for Puerto Rico's delegation, and one will compete for the U.S. Virgin Islands. One athlete will also compete for American Samoa.

In addition to delegations from American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands, more than a dozen other delegations will bring only one athlete competing in Beijing. Cyprus, Ecuador, India and Morocco are among the committees with just one athlete.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Rina Torchinsky