What is an IOC country code?

An IOC country code is a three-letter abbreviation the International Olympic Committee assigns to each National Olympic Committee. It is used in Olympic medal tables, on scoreboards, and on athletes' bibs and accreditation.

Are IOC codes the same as ISO alpha-3 codes?

Frequently, but not always. The IOC uses GER for Germany, SUI for Switzerland, NED for the Netherlands, and RSA for South Africa, which differ from the ISO alpha-3 codes DEU, CHE, NLD, and ZAF. Use the IOC code in an Olympic context.

How do IOC codes differ from FIFA codes?

They overlap heavily but not perfectly. For example, Indonesia is INA at the Olympics but uses IDN-style references elsewhere, and several nations the IOC and FIFA code differently. Both systems are independent of ISO.

Does an IOC code represent a country or a committee?

Strictly, an IOC code identifies a National Olympic Committee, which usually but not always maps one-to-one with a country. Some territories have their own NOC and code without being independent states.

Why use this lookup instead of ISO codes?

Because medal tables, results feeds, and historical Olympic data are keyed on IOC codes. Joining that data against an ISO-coded dataset will silently miss rows wherever the two systems diverge, so a quick cross-check prevents errors.

IOC Country Code Lookup

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What IOC codes are

When you watch an Olympic medal table, every nation is labelled with a three-letter IOC code. These codes identify National Olympic Committees and are the canonical key for Olympic results, athlete accreditation, and historical records. They resemble ISO codes but follow the IOC’s own conventions.

How it works

Each National Olympic Committee has a fixed three-letter code. In many cases it matches the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code — USA, BRA, JPN — but a meaningful minority diverge:

Country         IOC   ISO alpha-3
Germany         GER   DEU
Switzerland     SUI   CHE
Netherlands     NED   NLD
South Africa    RSA   ZAF
Croatia         CRO   HRV
Iran            IRI   IRN

The lookup shows both columns side by side and can filter to just the divergent rows, so you can see exactly where a naive join between IOC-coded and ISO-coded datasets would break.

Tips and notes

If you are merging Olympic medal data with a geographic or economic dataset, never assume the codes line up. Build a small mapping table for the divergent cases first, or you will drop Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands from your analysis without noticing. Note that “Great Britain” appears as GBR at the Olympics, covering the whole United Kingdom, unlike football where the home nations compete separately. IOC codes are also distinct from FIFA codes, so do not reuse one for the other.